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As  Violet  Grey  in  "  The  15elle  of  New  York." 


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»  ,     t        i      ♦  -  .  *         ,         ' 

-  •       •  •      " 

By  L.  C.  Page  &  Company 

(incorporated) 


All  rights  reserved 


Third  Impression,  February,  1906 


COLONIAL   PRESS 

Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Sivtonds  &=  Co. 

Boston,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTBR  ^^^^ 

Introduction ^x 

I    Alice  Nielsen ' 

II.   Virginia  Earle 21 

III.  Lillian  Russell 3° 

IV.  Josephine  Hall 4^ 

V.   Mabelle  Oilman S^ 

VI.   Fay  Templeton 67 

VII.   Madge  Lessing 81 

VIII.   Jessie  Bartlett  Davis 88 

IX.   Edna  Wallace  Hopper 104 

X.   Paula  Edwardes 113 

XI.   Lulu  Glaser 120 

XII.    Minnie  Ashley '34 

XIII.  Edna  May i47 

XIV.  Marie  Celeste 156 

XV.    Christie  MacDonald 172 


95'7''  > « •■« 


vi  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

XVI.  Marie  Dressler i8i 

XVII.  Della  Fox 192 

XVIII.  Camille  D'Arville 208 

XIX.  Marie  Tempest 222 

XX.  Maud  Raymond 233 

XXI.  Pauline  Hall 239 

XXII.  Hilda  Clark 253 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FAGB 

Edna  May  as  Violet  Grey  in  "  The  Belle  of 

New  York "   .         .         .         .        Frotitispiece 

Alice  Nielsen  in  "  The  Fortune  Teller  "         .  7 
Virginia  Earle  as  Winnifred  Grey   in   "  A 

Runaway  Girl" 21 

Lillian  Russell  as  ♦*  The  Queen  of  Brilliants  "  42 

Mabelle  Gilman  in  "  The  Casino  Girl "       .  56 
Fay  Templeton  singing   the    "  coon"   song, 

"  My  Tiger  Lily  " 67 

Madge  Lessing Si 

Edna  Wallace  -  Hopper      .        .        .        .104 

Paula  Edwardes '^3 

Lulu  Glaser 120 

Minnie  Ashley ^34 

Christie  Macdonald 172 


List  of  Illustrations 


PAGE 


Marie  Dressler i^^ 

Della  Fox ^9^ 

Marie  Tempest 222 


Introduction 

The  musical  stage  in  the  United  States 
may  be  said  to  be  a  birthright  rather  than  a 
profession.  A  critical  examination  of  the  con- 
ditions quickly  shows  one  that  the  number  of 
women  at  present  prominent  in  light  opera 
and  kindred  forms  of  entertainment,  who  have 
earned  their  positions  by  continued  endeavor 
and  logical  development  in  their  art,  is  com- 
paratively small.  The  majority  are,  in  fact, 
the  happy  victims  of  personality,  who  have 
been  rushed  into  fame  chiefly  by  chance  and 
a  fortunate  combination  of  circumstances. 
They  are  without  the  requisite  training,  either 
in  the  art  of  singing  or  in  the  art  of  imperso- 
nation, that  would  entitle  them  to  be  seriously 
considered  as  great  vocalists  or  as  great  actors. 
They  are,  however,  past   mistresses   in   the 


X  Introduction 

one  essential  for  their  profession,  —  the  art 
of  entertaining. 

The  readiest  proof  of  this  peculiar  state  of 
affairs  is  the  almost  universal  brevity  of  the 
careers  of  the  women  just  now  in  the  ascend- 
ancy in  the  musical  drama.  Ten  years  of 
professional  life  is  more  than  many  of  them 
can  claim.  Arising  suddenly  into  conspicuous 
popularity  as  they  have,  their  reputations  are 
founded,  not  on  the  sure  basis  of  careful 
preparation  and  long  and  diversified  experi- 
ence, but  on  the  uncertain  qualities  of  per- 
sonal magnetism  and  physical  beauty.  They 
shine  with  a  glory  that  is  perhaps  deceptive 
in  its  brilliancy ;  they  are  the  sought  for  by 
many  managers,  the  beloved  of  a  faddish  pub- 
lic, and  the  much  exploited  of  the  newspaper 
press. 

The  difficulties  that  encumbered  the  path 
of  the  compiler  of  this  book,  dealing  with  the 
women  of  the  musical  stage  in  this  country, 
were  numerous.     First  among  them  was  the 


;  Introduction  xi 

choice  of  subjects.  The  selection  could  not 
be  made  with  deference  to  any  classification 
by  merit,  for  the  triumphs  of  personality  were 
not  amenable  to  such  a  classification.  The 
compiler  was  compelled  by  the  conditions  to 
bring  his  own  personality  into  the  case,  and  to 
choose  entirely  by  preference.  He  could  not 
be  governed  by  an  arbitrary  standard  of  com- 
parison ;  for  how  can  personality,  which  is  a 
quality,  an  impression,  hardly  a  fact,  and 
certainly  not  a  method,  be  compared  ?  In  the 
present  instance,  the  writer  found  it  expedi- 
ent to  limit  himself  to  those  entertainers  who 
have  given  at  least  some  evidence  of  con- 
tinued prominence.  It  may  be,  therefore,  that 
a  few  names  have  been  omitted  which  are 
rightly  entitled  to  a  place  in  a  work  of  this 
kind.  Nevertheless,  the  list  is  surely  rep- 
resentative, even  if  it  be  not  complete. 

After  the  subjects  had  been  chosen,  the 
question,  how  to  treat  them,  at  once  became 
paramount.     Again    the    bothersome  limita- 


xii  Introduction 

tions  of  personality  asserted  themselves ;  and 
one  perceived  immediately  that  criticism, 
meaning  by  that  the  consistent  application  of 
any  comprehensive  canon  of  dramatic  art,  was 
out  of  the  question.  The  vocal  art  of  the 
average  light  opera  singer  is  imperfect,  and 
the  histrionic  methods  in  vogue  show  little 
evidence  of  careful  training :  they  are  neither 
subtle  nor  complex.  Indeed,  the  average 
woman  in  light  opera  is  not  an  actress  at  all 
in  the  full  meaning  of  the  word.  She  does 
not  fit  herself  into  the  parts  that  she  is  called 
upon  to  play,  and  she  does  not  attempt 
expositions  of  character  that  will  stand  even 
the  most  superficial  analysis.  She  acts  her- 
self under  every  circumstance.  Describe  in 
detail  her  work  in  a  single  role,  and  she  is 
written  down  for  all  time. 

Yet,  should  one  limit  his  critical  vision  to 
a  single  part,  he  not  only  fails  to  touch  the 
main  point  at  issue,  but  he  runs  the  risk,  as 
well,  of  self-deception  and  misunderstanding. 


Introduction  xili 

The  artistic  worth  of  a  player  of  personality  is 
invariably  overestimated  after  the  first  hear- 
ing ;  and  the  sure  tendency  of  even  the  ex- 
perienced observer,  particularly  if  he  be  of 
sympathetic  and  sanguine  temperament,  and 
constantly  on  the  watch  for  the  slightest 
indication  of  unusual  talent,  is  to  mistake  per- 
sonality for  art.  The  result  is  that,  after 
indulging  himself  to  the  full  in  eloquent  rhap- 
sody, he  encounters,  upon  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance,  mortifying  disillusionment. 

What  is  of  genuine  value  in  the  player  of 
personality  is  the  elusive  force  that  makes  her 
a  possibility  on  the  stage,  and  the  problem  is 
to  get  that  peculiar  magnetism  on  paper.  It 
IS  a  problem  unsolved  so  far  as  the  writer  is 
concerned.  One  can  dodge  above,  below,  and 
aroundabout  a  personality,  but  he  cannot 
pierce  directly  into  it.  When  it  comes  to  the 
final  word,  one  is  left  face  to  face  with  his 
stock  of  adjectives.  Most  unsatisfactory  they 
are,  toOc     None   of  them  seems  exactly  to 


xiv  Introduction 

fit  the  case.  They  serve  well  enough,  per- 
haps, to  convey  one  individual's  notions  re- 
garding the  personality  under  discussion,  but 
they  are  indeed  lame  and  limping  when  it 
comes  to  presenting  any  definite  idea  of  the 
personality  itself. 

As  for  the  biographical  data  in  the  book, 
they  are  as  complete  and  as  accurate  as 
diligence  and  care  can  make  them.  The 
woman  in  music  is  conscientiously  reticent 
regarding  the  details  of  her  early  struggles 
for  position  and  reputation.  Nothing  would 
seem  to  be  so  satisfactory  to  her  as  a  past 
dim  and  mystifying,  a  present  of  brilliancy 
unrivalled,  and  a  future  of  rich  and  unshad- 
owed promise. 


»        »     »        t      *       , 


»        1 


Famous   Prima   Donnas 

CHAPTER  I 

ALICE  NIELSEN 

Five  years  ago  Alice  Nielsen  was  an  ob- 
scure church  singer  in  Kansas  City;  to-day 
she  is  the  leading  woman  star  in  light  opera 
on  the  American  stage.  One  feels  an  instinc- 
tive hesitation  in  putting  her  in  the  first  place, 
however  sure  he  may  be  that  she  is  justly 
entitled  to  it.  He  anxiously  seeks  the  country 
over  for  a  possible  rival.  He  feels  that  Alice 
Nielsen  has  hardly  been  tested  as  yet,  for  she 
has  been  only  two  seasons  at  the  head  of  her 
own  company,  and  she  has  not  appeared  in 
an  opera  which  is  of  itself  artistically  worthy 
of  serious  consideration.  Moreover,  she  is 
such  a  little  thing,  —  a  child,  it  would  seem,  — 
and  is  it  safe  to  take  seriously  a  child,  even  a 
child  of  so  many  and  so  potent  fascinations  ? 


2 '  Prima  Donnas  and  Soiihrettes 

This  feeling  of  doubt,  caused  by  Miss 
Nielsen's  stage  youthfulness,  is,  it  appears  to 
me,  the  pith  of  the  whole  difficulty,  and 
therein  lurks  a  curious  paradox.  Alice  Niel- 
sen's great  charms  are  her  youth,  her  spon- 
taneity, and  her  ingenuousness;  but  these 
very  qualities  are  the  ones  that  make  one 
pause  and  consider  before  giving  her  the 
artistic  rank  that  she  has  honestly  earned. 
Alice  Nielsen  seems  almost  too  human  to  be 
really  great.  She  is  too  natural,  too  demo- 
cratic,  too  free  from  conceit.  She  is  never 
disdainful  of  her  public,  and  she  is  never 
bored  by  her  work. 

One  cannot  help  being  charmed  by  this 
little  woman,  who  sings  as  if  singing  were  the 
best  fun  in  the  world ;  who  is  so  frankly 
happy  when  her  audience  likes  her  work  and 
applauds  her ;  and  who  goes  soaring  up  and 
away  on  the  high  notes,  sounding  clear  and 
pure  above  chorus  and  orchestra,  without 
the  slightest  apparent  effort  and   without  a 


Alice  Nielsen  « 

trace  of  affectation  or  of  artificial  striving  for 
effect.  Everybody  who  has  ever  written  any- 
thing about  AHce  Nielsen  has  declared  that 
she  sings  like  a  bird,  freely,  naturally,  and 
easily,  and  this  metaphor  describes  exactly 
the  impression  that  she  creates. 

Her  voice   one  appreciates  at  once, — its 
volume  and  its  colorful  brilliancy,  its  great 
range,  and  its  rich,  sympathetic,  and  musical 
qualities ;  what  he  misses  in  her  are  the  con- 
ventionalities of  the  prima  donna,  —  the  awe- 
inspiring     stage     presence,    the     impressive 
posings  and   contortions  vocalizations.     The 
world  is  very  apt  to  take  one  at  his  own  esti- 
mate until  it  gets  very  well  acquainted  with 
him.      Alice  Nielsen   has   never   proclaimed 
herself  a  wonder,  and  the  world  has  not  yet 
fully  made  up  its  mind  regarding  her  as  an 
artist.     It  acknowledges   her  great  personal 
charm,  her  delightful  music,  but  it  is  not  just 
sure  whether  she  can  act. 

I  regard  Miss  Nielsen  as  a  thoroughly  com- 


4  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

patent  actress  in  a  limited  field.  She  is 
fitted  neither  physically  nor  temperamentally 
for  heroics,  but  she  is  fully  equal  to  the  re- 
quirements of  operatic  light  comedy.  She 
acts  as  she  sings,  simply  and  naturally,  and 
her  appeal  to  her  audience  is  sure  and  straight- 
forward. As  an  instance  of  this,  take  her 
striking  first  entrance  in  "  The  Singing  Girl." 
She  appears  on  a  little  bridge,  which  extends 
across  the  back  of  the  stage.  She  runs 
quickly  to  the  centre,  then  stops,  stoops  over 
with  her  hands  on  her  knees  in  Gretchen 
fashion,  and  smiles-  with  all  her  might.  The 
action  is  quaint  and  attractive,  and  she  wins 
the  house  at  once.  Alice  Nielsen's  smile 
is  really  a  wonderful  thing,  and  it  is  one 
proof  that  she  knows  something  about  acting. 
It  never  seems  forced.  Yet,  when  one  stops 
to  think,  he  must  see  that  a  girl  cannot  smile 
at  the  same  time,  night  after  night,  without 
bringing  to  her  aid  a  little  art.  To  appear 
perfectly   natural   on  the   stage   is   the   best 


Alice  Nielsen  t 

possible  acting,  and  that  is  just  what  Alice 
Nielsen  does  with  her  smile. 

However,  "The  Singing  Girl,"  for  which 
Victor  Herbert  wrote  the  music,  Harry  Smith 
the  lyrics,  and  Stanislaus  Stange  the  libretto, 
like  "The  Fortune  Teller,"  in  which  Miss 
Nielsen  made  her  debut  as  a  star  during  the 
season  of  1898-99,  was  from  any  standpoint 
except  the  purely  spectacular  a  pretty  poor 
sort  of  an  opera.  There  was  a  great  deal  to  at- 
tract the  eye.  The  costuming  was  sumptuous, 
the  groupings  and  color  effects  novel  and  en- 
trancing, and  the  action  throughout  mechan- 
ically spirited.  Mr.  Herbert's  music,  which 
was  plainly  written  to  catch  the  public  fancy, 
fulfilled  its  purpose,  though  that  was  about  all 
that  could  be  said  in  its  favor.  It  waltzed 
and  it  marched,  and  it  broke  continually  Into 
crashing  and  commonplace  refrains.  It  was 
strictly  theatrical  music,  with  more  color  than 
melody,  showy  and  pretentious,  but  without 
backbone. 


6  Prima  Doimas  and  Soubrettes 

There  was  really  only  one  song  in  the  whole 
score  that  stuck  to  the  memory,  and  that  was 
Miss  Nielsen's  solo,  "  So  I  Bid  You  Beware." 
Possibly,  even  in  this  case  I  am  giving  Mr. 
Herbert  more  credit  than  belongs  to  him,  for 
Miss  Nielsen's  interpretation  of  the  ditty  was 
nothing  short  of  exquisite.  She  found  a 
world  of  meaning  in  the  simple  words,  co- 
quetted and  flirted  with  a  fascinating  girlish- 
ness  that  was  entrancing,  and  flashed  her 
merry  blue  eyes  with  an  invitation  so  purely 
personal  that  for  a  moment  the  footlights  dis- 
appeared. 

Mr.  Stange's  libretto  was  wofuUy  weak. 
It  seemed  to  be  full  of  holes,  and  into  these 
a  trio  of  comedians  were  thrust  with  a 
recklessness  born  of  desperation.  What  Mr. 
Stange  did  faithfully  was  to  keep  Miss  Niel- 
sen on  the  stage  practically  all  the  time  that 
she  was  not  occupied  in  taking  off  petticoats 
and  putting  on  trousers — or  else  reversing 
the   process.     To  be  sure,   he  succeeded  in 


ALICE    NIELSEN 
In  "  The  Fortune  Teller." 


C        «        •       •       *•      t 


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« . » 


,    C        -  .  C  c 

»      •■     V  r   •     •         '* 


Alice  Nielsen  7 

bringing  about  these  many  changes  with  less 
bewilderment  than  did  Harry  Smith  in  the 
case  of  "  The  Fortune  Teller,"  the  plot  of 
which  no  one  ever  confessed  to  follow  after 
the  first  five  minutes  of  the  opening  act. 
Alan  Dale  once  described  this  peculiar 
state  of  affairs  in  the  following  characteristic 
fashion :  — 

"  In  '  The  Fortune  Teller  *  the  astonishing 
Harry  B.  Smith,  who  must  have  gone  about 
all  summer  perspiring  librettos  and  dripping 
them  into  the  laps  of  all  the  stars,  has  woven 
a  role  for  Miss  Nielsen  that  is  stellar  but 
difficult  to  comprehend.  Miss  Nielsen  ap- 
peared as  three  people  who  are  always  chang- 
ing their  clothes.  Just  as  the  poor  little 
woman  has  got  through  all  her  vocal  exer- 
cises as  Irma,  Mr.  Smith  insists  that  she  shall 
be  Musette  in  other  garbs.  And  no  sooner 
has  she  appeared  as  Musette  and  sang  some- 
thing else  than  Mr.  Smith  rushes  her  off  and 
claps  her  into  another  garb  as  Fedor.     You 


8  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

don't  know  who  she  intends  to  be  from  one 
minute  to  another,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that 
she  herself  does  n't.  The  variety  of  dresses, 
tights,  wraps,  jackets,  and  hats  sported  by  this 
ambitious  and  earnest  Httle  girl  is  simply  as- 
tonishing. It  must  be  very  difficult  to  accom- 
plish these  chameleon-like  changes  without 
getting  rattled.  Miss  Nielsen  seemed  to  enjoy 
herself,  however;  and  as  for  getting  rattled, 
she  coquetted  with  her  audience  as  archly 
after  the  twelfth  change  as  she  did  after  the 
first." 

Alice  Nielsen  was  born  in  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee. Her  father,  from  whom  she  probably 
inherited  her  musical  talent,  was  a  Dane. 
He  was  an  excellent  violinist,  but  he  was 
never  able  to  turn  his  gifts  to  financial  advan- 
tage. During  the  Civil  War  he  fought  on  the 
Union  side  and  received  a  severe  wound  that  is 
believed  to  have  been  the  indirect  cause  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  when  Alice  was  about 
seven  years  old.     Alice  Nielsen's  mother  was 


Alice  Nielsen  g 

of  Irish  parentage,  —  a  woman  of  sturdy  and 
sterling  qualities. 

After  the  war  the  family  settled  in  Warrens- 
burg,  Missouri,  and  remained  there  until  after 
Mr.  Nielsen's  death.    There  were  four  children 
in  the  family,  three  girls  and  a  boy,  and  Alice 
was  next  to  the  oldest.     After  the  death  of 
Mr.  Nielsen,  Mrs.  Nielsen  removed  with  her 
children  to  Kansas  City  and  opened  a  board- 
ing-house at   the  corner  of  Thirteenth   and 
Cherry    streets.     Alice    was     at    that    time 
about  eight  years  old.     For  some  years  she 
attended  school  at  St.  Teresa's  Academy,  and 
later   she    studied    music    and  voice   culture 
under   a    Kansas    City    music-teacher,    Max 
Desci.      Many    years    afterward    this    tutor 
claimed  the  whole  credit  for  developing  her 
voice  and  for  ''  bringing  her  out,"  even  going 
so  far  as  to  sue  her   for  $8,000,  which  he 
alleged  to  be  due  him  for  music  lessons.     He 
lost  the  suit,  however. 

Kansas  City  first  began  to  talk  of  Alice 


10  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

Nielsen's  voice  after  she  became  a  member  of 
the  choir  of  St.  Patrick's  Church,  with  which 
she  was  connected  for  five  years.  She  mar- 
ried the  organist,  Benjamin  Neutwig,  from 
whom  she  was  divorced  in  1898.  After  her 
marriage  she  continued  to  Hve  in  her  mother's 
apartments  at  Thirteenth  and  Cherry  streets, 
where,  in  fact,  she  made  her  home  until  she 
left  Kansas  City.  Appreciating  his  wife's 
unusual  gifts,  Mr.  Neutwig  did  much  to  de- 
velop them,  and  it  was  perhaps  due  to  him  as 
much  as  to  any  one  else  that  she  became 
something  more  than  a  church  singer. 

The  Kansas  City  friends  of  Alice  Nielsen 
relate  many  interesting  incidents  of  her  early 
life,  nearly  all  of  which  show  indications  of 
the  spirit  and  strength  of  character  that  have 
done  so  much  toward  pushing  her  forward. 
The  following  anecdotes,  told  by  a  member  of 
St.  Patrick's  Church  choir,  were  published  in 
the  "  Kansas  City  World  "  :  — 

"  I  was  In  a  grocery  store  near  Twelfth  and 


Alice  Neils €71  \  \ 

Locust  streets  with  Alice  one  day,  when  she 
was  about  fifteen  years  old,  I  should  judge. 
A  couple  of  boys  of  her  age  were  plaguing 
her.  She  took  it  good-naturedly  for  awhile, 
but  finally  warned  them  to  let  her  alone. 
They  persisted.  Then  becoming  exasperated, 
she  picked  up  an  ^^^  and  threw  it,  hitting 
one  of  her  tormentors  squarely  in  the  face. 
Of  course  the  Q,g^  broke,  and  the  boy's  coun- 
tenance was  a  sight  for  the  gods.  I  under- 
stand she  apologized  afterward.  This  may 
be  recorded  as  her  first  hit. 

"  She  joined  the  choir  of  St.  Patrick's 
Church,  Eight  and  Cherry  streets,  eleven 
years  ago,  and  sang  in  it  about  five  years,  or 
until  she  left  Kansas  City  to  begin  her  open- 
atic  career.  It  was  there  she  met  Benjamin 
Neutwig,  the  organist  A  great  many  per- 
sons were  jealous  of  her  vocal  talents,  nor 
were  certain  members  of  the  church  itself 
entirely  exempt  from  twinges  of  envy. 
Indeed,  a  no  less  personage  than  she  who 


12  Prima  Domias  and  Souhrettes 

was  at  that  time  choir  leader  manifested  symp- 
toms of  this  kind  to  a  pronounced  degree. 

"  I  remember  one  Easter  service,  Alice, 
then  a  girl  of  probably  eighteen,  was  down  to 
sing  a  solo  in  Millard's  Mass.  The  leader 
was  angry:  she  thought  the  solo  should  have 
been  assigned  to  her.  Alice  knew  of  the 
hostility,  and  it  worried  her,  but  she  rose 
bravely  and  started  in.  Scarcely  had  she 
sung  the  first  line  when  the  choir  leader 
turned  and  gave  Alice  a  hateful  look. 

'*  It  had  the  desired  effect.  The  singer's 
voice  trembled,  broke,  and  Was  mute.  She 
struggled  bravely  to  regain  her  composure, 
but  it  was  useless, —she  could  not  prevail 
against  that  malevolent  gaze  from  the  choir 
leader.  This,  I  believe,  was  the  first  and 
only  time  Alice  Nielsen  ever  failed  in  public. 

"  It  is  a  wonder,  In  the  face  of  petty  jeal- 
ousies of  this  kind,  coupled  with  the  poverty 
of  her  mother,  which  seemed  an  insurmount- 
able  barrier   to    a   musical    education,   that 


Alice  Nielsen  13 

Alice's  talents  were  not  lost  to  the  world. 
For  every  influence  tending  to  push  her  for- 
ward, there  seemed  a  dozen  counter  in- 
fluences tending  to  pull  her  back.  As  a 
child,  I  have  seen  her  many  a  time  on  the 
street,  barefooted,  clothing  poor  and  scant, 
running  errands  for  her  mother.  Later  in 
life,  when  she  was  almost  a  young  lady,  I 
have  known  her  to  sing  in  public,  gowned  in 
the  cheapest  material,  and  she  would  appear 
time  after  time  in  the  same  dress.  On  such 
occasions  she  was  often  wan  and  haggard,  as 
if  from  anxiety  or  overwork.  But  once  in  a 
while  she  received  the  praise  which  she  so 
richly  merited. 

''  One  day  Father  Lillis  received  a  letter 
from  a  travelling  man  who  was  stopping  at 
the  Midland,  in  which  he  asked  the  name  of 
the  young  woman  who  sang  soprano  in  the- 
choir.  He  had  attended  church  the  day 
before,  he  said,  and  had  heard  her  sing.  '  It 
is  the  most  wonderful  voice  I  ever  heard,*  he 


14         Prima  Domias  and  Sonbrettes 

wrote.  *  That  girl  is  the  coming  Florence 
Nightingale.'  I  don't  know  whether  the  let- 
ter was  ever  answered  or  not,  but  Alice  came 
to  know  of  the  incident,  and  it  pleased  her. 

"  Both  before  and  after  she  joined  the 
choir,  Alice  appeared  in  amateur  theatricals 
and  in  church  concerts.  She  was  always 
applauded  and  appreciated,  but  it  was  in  the 
character  of  a  soubrette  in  '  Chantaclara,'  a 
light  opera  put  on  at  the  Coates  Opera  House 
by  Professors  Maderia  and  Merrihew,  that  she 
created  the  most  decided  sensation.  This 
was  but  a  few  weeks  before  she  left  Kansas 
City." 

Miss  Nielsen  bade  farewell  to  Kansas  City 
in  1892,  going  away  with  an  organization  that 
styled  itself  the  Chicago  Concert  Company, 
and  which  planned  to  tour  the  small  towns  ot 
Kansas  and  Missouri.  This,  her  earliest  pro- 
fessional experience,  ended  in  disaster,  and 
Miss  Nielsen  was  stranded  in  St.  Joseph, 
Missouri,  before  she  had  been  out  a  week. 


Alice  Nielsen  15 

It  was  an  eventful  week,  however,  and  Miss 
Nielsen  vividly  recalls  it. 

*'  We  got  out  somewhere  in  far  Missouri," 
said  Miss  Nielsen,  ''  with  the  thermometer  out 
of  sight  and  hotels  heated  with  gas  jets  and 
red  flannel.     Nobody  had  ever  heard  of  us. 
I  don't  think  that  in  some  of  the  towns  we 
struck    they'd    ever   heard    anything   newer 
than  the  *  Maiden's  Prayer,'  and  that  was  as 
much  as  they  wanted.     They  called  me  *  the 
Swedish  Nightingale,'  and  you  can  imagine 
how  I  felt,  —  a  nightingale  in  such  a  climate, 
and  Swedish  at  that.     But  I  just  sang  for  all 
I  was  worth  and  I  tried  to  educate  them,  too. 
I    sang   the    *  Angel's    Serenade,'    and    they 
did  n*t   like  it,   because  when  they   tried    to 
whistle    it   in   the    audience,    they   couldn't. 
We  did  n't  carry  any  scenery ;  we  just  had  a 
lot  of  sheets  with  us,  and  used  to  drape  the 
stage  ourselves. 

"One    'hair  we    came   to,  there   was   no 
dressing-room,  so  we  strung  a  sheet  in  one 


1 6  Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

corner,  and  some  one  put  a  table  behind  with 
a  lamp  on  it.  The  *  ladies  of  the  company ' 
(myself  and  the  contralto)  occupied  this  im- 
provised dressing-room.  Suddenly  we  dis- 
covered that  we  were  unconsciously  treating 
the  audience  to  a  shadow  pantomime  per- 
formance. There  was  only  one  way  out  of 
the  difficulty, — we  women  must  shield  each 
other.  So  I  held  my  skirts  out  while  the 
contralto  dressed,  and  she  did  the  same  for 
me. 

"  I  remember  in  one  place  we  had  managed 
to  excite  the  hayseeds  into  coming  to  hear 
us,  and  the  hall  was  quite  full.  We  were 
giving  a  little  operetta.  Somehow  or  other 
it  did  n't  seem  to  please  the  public,  and  they 
were  in  a  mood  to  be  disagreeable,  —  yes, 
restless.  They  wanted  their  money's  worth; 
they  were  mean  enough  to  say  so. 

*'  We  held  a  consultation  behind  our  sheet- 
ings, and  the  tenor  suddenly  remembered 
that  once  upon  a  time,  when  he  was  a  school- 


Alice  Nielsen  17 

boy,  he  used  to  amuse  his  comrades  with 
tricks.  *  Could  he  do  them  now?*  we  asked. 
He  would  do  his  best,  he  said.  So  he  got  a 
wooden  table,  hammered  a  nail  into  it,  bent  it 
a  little,  and  slipped  a  curtain  ring  on  his  finger. 

"  The  trick  was  to  lift  the  table  with  the 
palm  of  the  hand,  the  ring  and  nail  being 
invisible.  Just  in  the  middle  of  the  trick  the 
nail  broke.  Well,  I  believe  that  audience 
was  ready  to  mob  us.  The  bass,  seeing  the 
situation,  made  a  dive  for  the  money  in  the 
front  of  the  house,  and  we  escaped.  It  was 
a  packed  house,  too.  There  must  have  been 
as  much  as  eight  dollars." 

"  Did  you  ever  have  to  walk?  " 

"  Yes,    indeed.      We   walked    eight   miles 

once  to  a  town,  —  snowballed  each  other  all 

the  way.     It  was  lots  of  fun.     When  we  got 

there  the  local  paper  had  an  advance  notice 

something  like  this  :   *  We  are  informed  that 

"  the  Swedish  Nightingale  "  and  others  intend 

to  give  a  show  in  the  schoolhouse  to-night. 

2 


1 8         Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

Any  one  who  pays  money  to  go  to  their  show 
will  be  sorry  for  it.' 

"The  local  manager,  an  Irishman,  asked 
us  to  sing  a  little  piece  for  him  when  we  ar- 
rived. After  we  had  done  so,  he  said  he  had 
never  heard  anything  so  bad  in  all  his  life. 
As  to  the  nightingale,  he  would  give  her  three 
dollars  to  sing  ballads,  but  the  rest  of  the 
troupe  were  beneath  contempt.  His  lan- 
guage was  a  dialect  blue  that  was  awful.  I 
tell  you  it  was  hard  luck  singing  in  Missouri." 

In  St.  Joseph  Miss  Nielsen  was  fortunate 
enough  to  secure  an  engagement  to  sing  in  a 
condensed  version  of  the  opera  "  Penelope  " 
at  the  Eden  Musee.  She  received  seventy- 
five  dollars  for  her  services,  and  this  money 
paid  the  railroad  fares  of  herself  and  some  of 
the  members  of  the  defunct  concert  company 
to  Denver,  Colorado.  There  her  singing  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  manager  of  the 
Pike  Opera  Company,  which  she  joined  and 
accompanied  to  Oakland,  California. 


Alice  Nielse7t  19 

Her  first  part  with  a  professional  opera 
company  was  that  of  Yum  Yum  in  **  The 
Mikado."  The  Pike  Opera  Company  later 
played  in  San  Francisco,  and  in  that  city  she 
was  heard  in  *'  La  Perichole  "  by  George  E. 
Lask,  the  stage  manager  of  the  Tivoli  Theatre, 
which  was,  and  is  still,  I  believe,  given  over 
to  opera  after  the  style  of  Henry  W.  Savage's 
various  Castle  Square  Theatre  enterprises  in 
the  East.  Miss  Nielsen  was  engaged  for  the 
Tivoli  Company.  She  sang  any  small  parts 
at  first,  but  gradually  arose  until  she  became 
the  prima  donna  of  the  organization.  In  all, 
she  is  said  to  have  sung  one  hundred  and 
fifty  parts  at  the  Tivoli,  where  she  remained 
for  two  years. 

While  she  was  singing  Lucia,  H.  C.  Barna- 
bee  of  The  Bostonians,  which  organization 
was  then  playing  in  San  Francisco,  read  of 
her  in  the  newspapers  and  went  to  hear  her. 
The  result  was  the  ofTer  of  an  engagement, 
which  she  accepted.     Her  first  part  with  The 


20  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

Bostonlans  was  Anita  in  **The  War  Time 
Wedding."  Then  she  was  given  the  small 
part  of  Annabelle  in  "  Robin  Hood."  She 
also  sang  in  "  The  Bohemian  Girl "  and  was 
Ninette  in  "  Prince  Ananias."  The  next  sea- 
son she  created  Yvonne  in  "  The  Serenade," 
and  was  the  hit  of  the  opera,  —  so  much  of  a 
hit,  indeed,  that  nothing  remained  for  her 
but  to  go  starring  in  "  The  Fortune  Teller." 


1    >       » 

^     .I        )  1 
•      »     >  * 


VIRGINIA    EARLE 
As  Winnifred  Grey  in  "  A  Runaway  Girl." 


i-     M    4      C 


CHAPTER  II 

VIRGINIA  EARLE 

An  accomplished  and  versatile  artist  is 
Virginia  Earle,  who,  because  of  the  variety 
of  her  attainments  and  the  grace  and  finish 
of  her  art,  is  entitled  to  rank  with  the  fore- 
most soubrettes  on  the  American  stage.  Miss 
Earle's  ability  has  been  tested  in  many  forms 
of  the  drama.  She  has  appeared  in  light 
opera,  in  extravaganza,  in  musical  comedy, 
and  in  the  Shakespearian  drama.  I  ques- 
tion if  there  is  another  in  her  line  now  before 
the  public  who  can  claim  any  such  extensive 
experience. 

It  would  be  strange  if  this  diversified  en- 
deavor had  not  had  its  effect  on  her  art.  In 
her  we  find  united  with  a  personality  of  curi- 
ously subtle  charm  an  authority  in  action  that 


22         Prima  Donnas  and  Soiihrettes 

is  restful  and  refreshing.  In  her  presentation 
of  a  part  there  is  neither  hesitancy  nor  mis- 
placed endeavor.  She  always  has  command 
of  herself  and  of  the  role  that  she  is  portray- 
ing. One  never  for  a  moment  feels  that  she 
is  to  the  slightest  degree  uncertain  as  regards 
the  effect  that  she  will  produce  on  her  audi- 
ence. She  knows  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it. 
Yet,  when  one  stops  to  think  of  it,  her 
power  over  her  audience  is  far  in  excess  of 
what  one  would  naturally  expect.  Miss 
Earle  is  by  no  means  impressive  in  her  stage 
presence.  She  cannot  be  called  beautiful. 
Her  singing  voice  is  a  modest  instrument, 
though  a  wonderfully  expressive  one,  it  must 
be  acknowledged.  Her  acting  is  quiet,  even 
unassuming,  but  it  is  also  plain,  easily  com- 
prehended, and  always  appropriate.  She 
apparently  never  does  anything  to  attract 
attention,  yet  attention  rarely  fails  to  be  cen- 
tred on  her.  This,  of  course,  is  due  to  the 
finish  of  her  art  and   a  fine   technique  that 


Virginia  Earle  23 

makes  its  presence  felt  by  its  seeming   ab- 
sence. 

If  Miss  Earle  cannot  justly  claim  any  ex- 
ceptional advantages  in  the  matter  of  phys- 
ical beauty,  she  certainly  has  the  greater 
advantage  of  an  intensely  magnetic  person- 
ality. Her  individuality,  too,  is  thoroughly 
distinct.  It  is  one  of  the  paradoxes  of  acting 
that  the  more  distinct  the  artist's  individuality, 
the  greater  is  his  ability  to  set  apart  one 
from  another  the  characters  which  he  as- 
sumes. Miss  Earle  has  this  talent  for  making 
each  one  of  her  roles  a  separate  and  distinct 
personage  to  a  greater  degree  than  any  of 
her  associates  in  the  musical  field.  She  does 
this,  too,  in  a  strictly  legitimate  way,  by  im- 
personation pure  and  simple  without  the  aid 
of  make-up. 

I  remember  especially  what  entirely  differ- 
ent persons  were  her  MoUie  Seamore  in 
''The  Geisha"  and  herWinnifred  Grey  in  **  A 
Runaway  Girl,"  so  different,  in  fact,  that  one 


24         Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

who  knew  her  only  in  the  first  part  found  it 
hard  to  believe  for  some  time  that  it  really 
was  she  in  the  second  part.  Those  who  saw 
her  in  "  The  Geisha "  cannot  fail  to  recall 
the  fascinating,  quizzical  squint  that  was  con- 
tinually getting  into  the  mischievous  MoUie's 
eyes.  I  know  that  I  liked  it  so  much  that 
when  I  saw  Miss  Earle  the  next  season  as 
Winnifred  Grey,  the  first  thing  I  looked  for 
was  the  squint.  I  was  astonished  to  find  that 
it  was  not  there,  and  disappointed,  too,  for  I 
had  always  associated  the  actress  in  my  own 
mind  with  that  squint.  No  sign  of  it  could  I 
perceive  until  the  last  act,  when  it  came  sud- 
denly into  view  while  she  was  singing  the 
song  about  the  boy  with  the  various  kinds  of 
guesses.  It  gathered  around  the  corners  of 
her  eyes,  and  it  twinkled  as  merrily  as  ever. 
It  made  me  quite  happy  again,  for  I  felt  that 
I  should  not  be  compelled  to  revise  my  imagi- 
nation and  repicture  Miss  Earle  without  the 
tantalizing  squint. 


Virginia  Earle  25 

Miss  Earle  is  a  noteworthy  example  of  the 
long  time,  the  constant  endeavor,  and  the 
faithful  service  that  are  sometimes  required 
to  win  recognition  in  the  important  theatrical 
centres  of  the  country.  She  had  been  many 
years  on  the  stage  before  George  Lederer 
finally  gave  her  an  engagement  at  the  New 
York  Casino.  That  was  really  the  first 
chance  that  she  ever  had  to  prove  herself 
something  more  than  a  one  night  stand  favor 
ite,  and  since  that  time  she  has  only  rarely 
played  outside  of  New  York. 

This  long-delayed  recognition  was  one  of 
the  freaks  of  fortune  for  which  no  one  can 
account.  She  was  apparently  one  of  those 
unlucky  persons  who  through  no  fault  of 
their  own  start  wrong.  She  was  born  in  the 
West,  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  on  August  6,  1873, 
and  it  was  in  the  West  that  she  remained  for 
a  number  of  seasons.  Her  theatrical  career 
began  when  she  was  very  young,  and  the 
Home    Juvenile    Opera    Company   was   the 


26         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

means  of  Introducing  her  to  the  stage.  This 
was  in  1887,  and  her  first  part  was  Nanki  Poo 
in  "  The  Mikado."  Miss  Earle  also  played 
leading  roles  in  the  other  Gilbert  and  Sulli- 
van operas  then  so  popular, —  **  Patience," 
"Pinafore,"  and  "The  Pirates  of  Penzance." 

Then  she  joined  the  Pike  Opera  Company 
and  toured  the  West  in  a  repertory  of  the 
best-known  light  operas.  In  San  Francisco 
she  was  engaged  by  Hallen  and  Hart,  the 
farce  comedy  team,  and  remained  with  them 
for  two  seasons,  appearing  in  "  Later  On." 
Her  next  engagement  was  with  Edward  E. 
Rice,  and  under  his  management  she  went  to 
Australia.  Three  years  were  spent  there, 
during  which  time  she  acted  Taggs  in  ''  The 
County  Fair,"  Gabriel  in  "  Evangeline,"  Ma- 
dora  in  "  The  Corsair,"  Dan  Deny  in  "  Cin- 
derella," and  Columbia  in  Rice's  **  World's 
Fair." 

On  her  return  to  America  she  was  engaged 
for  Charles  Hoyt's  farce  comedy,  "  A  Hole  in 


Virginia  Earle  27 

the  Ground/'  acting  the  lunch  counter  girl; 
and  after  a  short  but  successful  season  with 
this  mess  of  nonsense  she  joined  a  company 
under  the  management  of  D.  W.  Truss  & 
Company,  playing  "  Wang "  in  the  places 
too  small  for  DeWolf  Hopper  to  visit.  For 
two  seasons  with  this  organization  Miss  Earle 
acted  Delia  Fox's  famous  part  of  Mataya. 
Canary  and  Lederer  of  the  New  York  Casino 
then  secured  her  services,  and  under  their 
management  she  assumed  leading  parts  in 
''  The  Passing  Show,"  "  The  Merry  World," 
in  which  she  doubled  the  roles  of  Vaseline 
and  Little  Billee,  in  "  Gay  New  York,"  and 
*'  The  Lady  Slavey." 

As  soon  as  her  contract  with  the  Casino 
expired,  Augustin  Daly  engaged  her  for  his 
musical  comedy  company,  where  she  suc- 
ceeded Violet  Lloyd  as  Mollie  Seamore  in 
"  The  Geisha."  Not  only  did  she  present 
this   part  with  ready  skill,   but   she  made   a 


second    hit   as    Flora   in    "  Meg   Merrilies. 


>> 


28  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

Nor  did  old  comedy  daunt  her,  for  as  still 
another  Flora,  maid  to  Ada  Rehan  in  '*  The 
Wonder,"  her  work  was  much  praised.  She 
crowned  her  success  by  appearing  in  Shake- 
speare, winning  new  laurels  with  her  Ariel  in 
**  The  Tempest."  In  all  these  impersonations 
her  readiness  in  song  was  of  service,  but  her 
vivacity  counted  for  much;  and,  more  than 
that,  her  magnetic  influence  over  her  audi- 
ence, which  it  is  impossible  to  analyze.  A 
number  of  years  before,  Sarah  Bernhardt  had 
taken  a  fancy  to  Miss  Earle's  Taggs  in  *'  The 
County  Fair,"  and  had  predicted  a  future  for 
her.  Notwithstanding  this,  however,  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  Miss  Earle  herself  would  have 
been  incredulous  had  any  one  told  her  a  few 
months  before,  while  she  was  playing  Prince 
Rouge  et  Noir  in  "  Gay  New  York,"  that 
within  a  year  she  would  be  a  principal  in 
Shakespeare  at  Daly's. 

Dora  in  "  The  Circus  Girl "  and  Winnifred 
Grey   in  "  A   Runaway  Girl "  followed,  and 


Virginia  Earle  29 

Miss  Earle's  conquest  of  New  York  was  com- 
plete. She  had  won  recognition  at  last  as  a 
soubrette  who  was  an  artist  as  well  as  a  per- 
sonahty.  After  Mr.  Daly's  death  Miss  Earle 
returned  to  the  New  York  Casino,  appearing 
first  as  Percy  Ethelbert  Frederick  Algernon 
Cholmondely  in  "  The  Casino  Girl."  This 
part  by  no  means  showed  her  at  her  best, 
although  she  did  fully  as  well  as  could  be 
expected  with  the  material  with  which  she 
had  to  work. 


CHAPTER  III 

LILLIAN   RUSSELL 

For  many  years  Lillian  Russell  held  with- 
out challenge  and  without  serious  rivalry  the 
first  place  among  light  opera  prima  donnas 
in  this  country.  Her  triumphs  followed  one 
after  the  other  in  rapid  succession,  and  her 
popularity  in  all  the  leading  cities  in  the 
country-— and  she  would  visit  none  except 
leading  cities  — was  remarkable.  *'  Queen  of 
Comic  Opera"  she  was  called;  and  what  a 
vision  of  loveliness,  she  was,  to  be  sure !  the 
most  perfect  doll's  face  on  the  American 
stage,  as  some  one  described  it.  A  golden- 
haired  goddess,  with  big  blue  eyes  that 
seemed  a  bit  of  June  sky,  and  perfectly 
rounded  cheeks,  soft  and  dimpled  like  a 
baby's. 


Lillian  Russell  31 

There    are  two    classes   of  women  in   the 
world,  —  pretty  women,  whom  we  see  every- 
where, and  beautiful  women,  about  whom  we 
often  read,  but  whom  we  seldom  see  in  real 
life.     Lillian  Russell  was  emphatically  a  beau- 
tiful woman.     She   was  almost   an   ideal.     I 
remember  her  in  all  her  perfection  as  Florella 
in  "  The  Brigands,"   by  W.    S.    Gilbert  and 
Jacques    Offenbach,    during    the    season    of 
1888-89.     Later    she   learned   to    act   better 
than  she  did  in  those  days, —  but  then  she 
did  not  need  to  act.     When  one  saw  her,  he 
forgot    all    about    acting.       He    thought    of 
nothing   except    Lillian    Russell,    her   extra- 
ordinary loveliness  of  person,  and  her  voice  of 
golden    sweetness.     She    compelled    admira- 
tion that  was  almost  personal  homage.     And 
she  could  sing,  too  !     Her  voice,  a  brilliant 
soprano,  was  rich,  full,  and  complete,  liquid  in 
tone,  pure  and  musical. 

From  1888  to  1896  were  the  days  of  her 
greatest  successes,  and  the  list  of  operas  in 


32  Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

which  she  appeared  during  that  time  is  a 
remarkable  one.  Besides  "The  Brigands," 
there  were  "  The  Queen's  Mate,"  "  The  Grand 
Duchess,"  "  Poor  Jonathan,"  "  Apollo,"  "  La 
Cigale,"  "  Girofle-Girofla,"  "The  Mounte- 
banks," "  Princess  Nicotine,"  "  Erminle,"  "The 
Tzigane,"  "  La  Perichole,"  "  The  Little  Duke," 
and  "  An  American  Beauty."  Naturally 
enough,  the  Lillian  Russell  of  to-day  is  not 
the  LiUian  Russell  of  ten  years  ago.  Her  great 
beauty  has  lost  some  of  its  freshness,  and  her 
voice,  though  by  no  means  wholly  past  its 
usefulness,  is  worn  by  the  years  of  constant 
use  in  the  theatre.  She  still  retains  to  a 
remarkable  extent,  however,  her  great  perso- 
nal hold  on  the  public.  Although  the  Lillian 
Russell  of  to-day  fails  to  maintain  the  stand- 
ard of  the  Lillian  Russell  of  yesterday,  there 
are  but  few  light  opera  sopranos  on  the 
American  stage  who  can  fairly  rival  her  even 
now,  and  there  is  no  one  who  is  at  present 
what  Lillian  Russell  was  ten  years  ago. 


Lilliait  Russell  33 

Lillian  Russell  was  christened  Helen  Louise 
Leonard.     Tony  Pastor  gave  her  the  name  of 
Lillian  Russell,  for  the  very  practical  reason,  I 
believe,  that  it  had  so  many  "  I's  "  in  it,  and 
consequently  would  look  well  on  a  bill-board. 
Little   Miss   Leonard   was    born    in    Clinton, 
Iowa.     Her    father   was  the    proprietor    and 
editor  of  the  "  Clinton  Weekly  Herald,"  and 
Lillian    Russell's   first    press   notice   read    as 
follows :   ''  Born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  E. 
Leonard,  at  their  home  on  Fourth  Avenue, 
December  4,  1861,  a  bright  baby  girl,  weigh- 
ing nine  and  one-half  pounds."     In  spite  of 
the  fact  that  this   birth    notice   speaks  of  a 
high-sounding  Fourth  Avenue,  Lillian  Russell 
was  born  in  an  alley.     The  house  in  Clinton, 
in  which  the  interesting  event  occurred,  was 
situated  in  the  rear  of  the  office  building  of 
H.  B.  Horton,    located   on  Fourth  Avenue, 
between  First  and  Second  streets,  and  faced 
east  on  the   alley  running  north  and  south 
between  Third  and  Fourth  avenues.     At  that 

3 


34         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

time  the  house  was  situated  almost  in  the 
centre  of  the  business  section  across  the  street 
from  the  Iowa  Central  Hotel,  then  the  largest 
hotel  in  the  state  and  one  of  the  finest  west  of 
Chicago.  Shortly  after  the  baby's  birth  the 
Leonard  family  removed  from  their  abode  on 
the  alley  to  408  Seventh  Avenue,  immediately 
in  the  rear  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  at  that 
time  one  of  the  finest  residences  in  the  town. 
Here  the  remainder  of  their  days  in  Clinton 
was  spent. 

During  the  first  few  years  of  her  life  there 
was  nothing  to  distinguish  Helen  Louise 
Leonard  from  any  other  baby;  but  by  the 
time  she  was  two  years  old,  she  showed  the 
marks  of  great  beauty,  having  large  blue  eyes 
and  golden  hair.  She  was  not  reared  among 
all  the  comforts  of  life.  Her  country  editor 
father  was  not  possessed  of  wealth,  but  was 
compelled  to  work  hard  on  his  prosperous, 
though  none  too  well-paying  newspaper,  every 
day  of  his  life.     During  the  period  of  Lillian's 


Lillian  Russell  35 

babyhood,  too,  the  war  forced  the  prices  of 
luxuries  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  all  but 
the  rich. 

Lillian  inherited  her  good  looks  from  her 
father.  Charles  E.  Leonard  was  a  man  of 
fine  appearance,  and  always  dressed  in  a 
faultless  manner.  When  he  went  to  Clinton 
in  1856  he  was  probably  thirty  years  of  age 
and  showed  plainly  the  marks  of  early  culture 
and  training.  He,  too,  was  a  blond.  That 
he  was  a  man  of  marked  abihty  is  evidenced 
by  the  success  he  achieved  in  his  profession 
in  what  was  then  a  scattering  Western  settle- 
ment of  not  half  a  hundred  houses  all  told, 
in  the  midst  of  a  country  unreclaimed  and 
almost  wholly  unsettled. 

On  December  18,  1856,  he  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  "  Clinton  Herald,"  a  weekly 
publication  having  as  competitors  two  other 
well-established  newspapers  at  Lyons,  only 
one  mile  north  in  the  same  county.  There 
was  really  no  field  at  Clinton  at  that  time  for 


36         Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

a  newspaper,  but  Leonard  thought  otherwise. 
The  panic  of  1857  caught  the  enterprise  in 
the  weakness  of  infancy ;  but  the  paper  sur- 
vived the  financial  storm  and  eventually  came 
forth  on  the  top  wave  of  success,  all  of  which 
was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  excellent  business 
management  of  Leonard  and  the  strong  per- 
sonality he  threw  into  his  work.  When  the 
general  offices  of  the  Chicago  and  North- 
western Railroad  were  removed  to  Chicago 
in  1865,  Mr.  Leonard  moved  the  fine  job 
office  connected  with  the  **  Herald  "  to  that 
city,  as  the  nucleus  for  the  extensive  printing 
establishment  he  later  acquired. 

After  the  family  moved  to  Chicago,  Lillian 
Russell  spent  several  years  in  the  Convent  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  in  that  city.  Her  first 
music  lessons  were  on  the  violin,  and  were 
given  by  Professor  Nathan  Dyer.  Then  she 
took  vocal  lessons  from  Professor  Gill  in 
Chicago.  When  the  time  came  for  him  to 
show  off  his  pupils,  he  gave  a  musicale  in 


Lillian  Russell  37 

Chickering  Hall.  The  fair-haired  Lillian 
sang  at  this  concert  "  Let  Me  Dream  again  " 
by  Sullivan  and  "  Connais-tu  le  Pays?"  from 
"  Mignon."  The  papers,  of  course,  gave  her 
complimentary  notices,  one  declaring  that 
she  sang  "  Hke  an  old  professional."  Possibly 
it  was  this  notice  that  first  turned  her  mind 
toward  the  stage.  For  some  time  after  that, 
however,  she  sang  in  St.  John's  Episcopal 
Church  on  the  West  Side,  and  studied  with 
Madame  Jennivally,  who  encouraged  her  in 
her  ambition  to  become  a  grand  opera  singer. 
With  the  idea  of  studying  for  the  grand 
opera  stage,  she  went  to  New  York  to  have 
her  voice  tried,  and  she  had  taken  but 
a  few  lessons  of  the  late  Dr.  Damrosch 
when  Mrs.  William  E.  Sinn  persuaded  her 
to  join  the  chorus  of  Edward  E.  Rice's  "  Pin- 
afore "  company  for  the  sake  of  the  experi- 
ence on  the  stage.  This  connection  lasted 
about  two  months  and  was  terminated  by  her 
first  matrimonial  experience,  her  marriage  to 


38  Prima  Dojtnas  and  Soubrettes 

Harry  Braham,  the  musical  director  of  the 
company.  She  retired  from  the  stage  for  a 
time,  but  her  domestic  happiness  did  not  last 
long.  It  then  became  a  matter  of  necessity 
for  her  to  get  an  engagement,  and  she  applied 
in  vain  to  such  managers  as  McCauU  and 
D'Oley  Carte,  who  could  find  nothing  in 
her  voice  to  warrant  them  In  giving  her  a 
chance. 

She  finally  succeeded  in  getting  a  position 
in  a  curious  way.  She  was  living  in  a  theat- 
rical boarding-house,  and  among  her  fellow- 
boarders  was  a  girl  who  was  engaged  by 
Tony  Pastor  for  a  specialty  act  in  his  theatre, 
which  at  that  time  was  situated  on  Broadway 
opposite  Niblo's  Garden.  While  calling  at 
the  house  one  day  to  complete  some  business 
transactions  with  this  young  woman,  the 
variety  manager  heard  Miss  Russell  singing 
in  a  neighboring  room.  He  asked  who  she 
was  and  said  he  wanted  to  meet  her.  He 
did  meet  her,  and  at  once  offered   her  fifty 


Lillian  Russell  39 

dollars  a  week  to  sing  ballads  at  his  theatre. 
Fifty  dollars  a  week  was  a  good  salary  in 
those  days,  and  the  following  Monday  saw  the 
name  of  Lillian  Russell,  '*  the  English  ballad 
singer,"  described  as  one  of  the  leading  attrac- 
tions on  the  programme. 

''  I  was  very  cool  and  collected  up  to  the 
time  that  I  heard  the  first  note  of  the  orches- 
tra," wrote  Miss  Russell,  in  describing  her 
first  experience  at  Pastor's.  "From  that 
moment  until  I  had  finished  my  third  song, 
however,  I  was  practically  in  a  trance.  I  was 
told  afterward  that  I  did  splendidly,  but  to 
this  day  I  cannot  tell  what  occurred  after  I 
went  on  the  stage  until  I  reached  my  dressing- 
room  and  donned  my  street  clothes." 

She  sung  with  considerable  success  such 
well-known  songs  as  "  The  Kerry  Dance  "  and 
"  Twickenham  Ferry."  "  The  Kerry  Dance," 
in  fact,  created  a  bit  of  a  sensation.  It  was  a 
style  of  vocal  music  quite  new  at  that  time  in 
the  variety  theatres.     When  Mr.  Pastor  intro- 


40         Prima  Donnas  and  Soitbrettes 

duced  his  stage  burlesques  on  ''  Olivette," 
**  The  Pirates  of  Penzance,"  and  other  popu- 
lar operettas,  Miss  Russell  took  part  in  them, 
and  she  also  appeared  in  Pastor's  condensed 
version  of  "  Patience." 

Then  Colonel  John  A.  McCauU  enticed 
Miss  Russell  away  from  Mr.  Pastor's  by 
means  of  a  larger  salary,  and  she  sang  under 
his  management  in  **  The  Snake  Charmer  "  at 
the  Bijou  Opera  House.  Her  next  engage- 
ment was  with  a  company  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Frank  Sanger.  It  was  a  strong 
organization,  and  some  of  its  members 
were  WiUie  Edouin,  Ahce  Atherton,  Jacob 
Kruger,  Lena  Merville,  and  Marion  Elmore. 
Its  tour  extended  straight  through  the  coun- 
try to  California;  and  the  experience  that 
Miss  Russell  gained  with  the  distinguished 
artists  of  the  company  was  invaluable  to  her. 

A  season  of  concert  work  was  followed  by 
her  engagement  at  the  New  York  Casino, 
and  her  appearance  in  the  ''The  Sorcerer" 


Lillian  Russell  41 

and  ''  The  Princess  of  Trebizonde."  At  this 
period  in  her  career  another  man  interfered, 
and  the  fair  Lillian  disappeared  from  the 
Casino,  as  did  also  Edward  —  they  called 
him  Teddy  —  Solomon,  the  leader  of  the  or- 
chestra. The  couple  went  to  England,  where 
they  remained  two  years,  Miss  Russell 
appearing  in  two  operas  which  Solomon 
wrote  for  her,  —  "  Virginia  "  at  the  Gaiety 
Theatre  and  "  Polly  "  at  the  London  Novelty 
Theatre. 

Miss  Russell  left  Solomon  when  she  learned 
that  another  woman  claimed  to  be  his  wife 
and  returned  to  the  United  States.  She 
joined  the  Duff  Opera  Company,  with  which 
she  remained  until  May,  1888,  when  she 
again  resumed  her  place  at  the  head  of  the 
New  York  Casino  forces,  singing  first  the 
Princess  in  "  Nadjy,"  the  part  originated  by 
Isabelle  Urquhart,  when  the  opera  was  first 
produced  in  New  York.  The  revival  ran  for 
something  like  two  hundred  nights ;  and  the 


42         Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

popular  "  Nadjy "  was   succeeded  by  "  The 
Brigands,"  which  was  also  very  successful. 

The  years  of  her  greatest  success  already 
referred  to  then  followed.  During  the 
season  of  1897-98  Miss  Russell  appeared 
with  Delia  Fox  and  Jefferson  DeAngelis  in 
*'  The  Wedding  Day ;  "  and  her  last  appear- 
ances in  opera  were  in  April,  1899,  in  "La 
Belle  Helene "  with  Edna  Wallace  Hopper. 
During  the  season  of  1899-1900,  Miss  Russell 
was  with  the  Weber  and  Fields  Company, 
whose  clever  burlesques  make  life  in  New 
York  so  merry. 

Miss  Russell  was  recently  asked  which  one 
of  the  many  operas  in  which  she  had  appeared 
was  her  favorite. 

" '  The  Grand  Duchess,'  "  she  replied  em- 
phatically. "  That,  to  my  mind,  was  one  of 
the  best  comic  operas  ever  written.  Then  I 
had  a  beautiful  part  in  '  Girofle-Girofla'  and 
*La  Perichole,'  but  *The  Grand  Duchess* 
was  my  favorite." 


•   .  '. '  »  ■> .' 


LILLIAN    RUSSELL 
As  "  The  Queen  of  Brilliants." 


■'»-.°-' 


.f 


o    *    «.  ^  «    • 


Lillian  Russell  43 

Miss  Russell  also  described  interestingly  her 
methods  of  working  up  a  part :  — 

"  How  do  I  study  my  parts?  Well,  every 
one  has  his  or  her  own  peculiar  idea  of  study 
and  rehearsal,  but  the  true  artist  always 
arrives  at  the  same  result,  with  the  aid  of 
a  clever  stage  manager  and  musical  conduc- 
tor. When  a  part  is  handed  to  me,  generally 
six  weeks  before  the  opening  night,  I  read  it 
through  carefully,  picture  myself  in  different 
positions  in  the  several  scenes,  and  then  I 
separate  the  music  from  the  dialogue  and 
study  the  music  first.  The  majority  of  the 
operas  in  which  I  have  recently  appeared 
are  of  the  French  or  Viennese  school,  and  in 
the  translation  there  will  sometimes  appear  a 
word  or  a  sentence  that  does  not  harmoni- 
ously fit  the  music.  Of  course  this  must  be 
altered  before  it  is  finally  committed  to  mem- 
ory. Then,  again,  we  are  all  inclined  to 
think  ourselves  wise  enough  to  improve  upon 
the  composer's  work,  and  where  a  chance  is 


44         Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibreitcs 

found  to  introduce  a  phrase  to  show  one's 
voice  to  better  advantage,  as  a  rule,  the 
opportunity  is  not  neglected. 

"  After  I  become  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  music,  I  take  up  the  study  of  the 
dialogue.  This,  to  a  comic  opera  singer,  is 
the  hardest  task  of  all ;  for  it  is  written  in  the 
blue  book  that  an  interpreter  of  comic  opera 
cannot  act.  The  desire  to  overcome  this 
prejudice  often  has  a  disastrous  result;  and 
instead  of  doing  justice  to  the  role  and  one's 
self,  the  fear  of  adverse  criticism  will  be  so 
overpowering  that  the  delivery  of  the  dia- 
logue, and  the  attempt  to  convey  the  author's 
idea  to  the  audience,  become  extremely  pain- 
ful alike  to  the  auditor  and  the  artist.  A  great 
many  times  I  have  formed  my  own  conception 
of  a  part  only  to  find  myself  entirely  in  the 
wrong  at  the  first  rehearsal ;  and  then  to  undo 
what  I  had  done  and  to  grasp  the  new  idea 
would  confuse  me  for  several  days." 

To  complete  the  Russell  marriage  record. 


Lillian  Russell  45 

it  should  be  added  that  in  January,  1894, 
during  the  run  of  ''  The  Princess  Nicotine," 
she  became  the  wife  of  the  tenor  of  the  com- 
pany, Signor  Giovanni  Perugini,  known  in 
private  Hfe  as  John  Chatterton.  This  mar- 
riage also  resulted  unhappily,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  separation  and  a  divorce. 


CHAPTER  IV 

JOSEPHINE   HALL 

Josephine  Hall  soared  into  a  prominence 
that  she  had  not  before  enjoyed,  on  the 
screechy  strains  of  "  Mary  Jane's  Top  Note  " 
in  "  The  Girl  from  Paris  "  during  the  season 
of  1897-98.  Previous  to  that,  however,  she 
had  passed  through  a  varied  theatrical  expe- 
rience. She  was  born  in  Greenwich,  Rhode 
Island,  and  came  of  a  very  well-known  family. 
Like  many  others,  she  acquired  her  first  taste 
for  the  stage  by  appearing  in  amateur  the- 
atricals. The  story  is  that  she  ran  away  from 
home  to  become  an  actress,  and  journeyed  to 
Providence,  where  she  made  it  known  at  the 
stage  door  of  one  of  the  theatres  that  she  was 
going  to  win  fame  by  treading  the  boards,  or 
die  in  the  attempt.     She  was  plain  "  Jo  '*  Hall 


Josephine  Hall  47 

vvhen  she  made  her  professional  debut  as 
Eulalie  in  ''  Evangeline  "  at  the  Fourteenth 
Street  Theatre,  New  York,  under  the  man- 
agement of  Edward  E.  Rice. 

After  this  initial  appearance  in  extrava- 
ganza, she  forsook  the  musical  stage  entirely 
until  she  succeeded  Paula  Edwardes  in  the 
title  r6Ie  of  ''  Mam'selle  'Awkins,"  although 
in  the  farces  with  which  she  was  identified  for 
a  number  of  seasons,  she  usually  was  given 
a  chance  to  introduce  one  or  more  comic 
songs.  After  she  left  Mr.  Rice,  she  became 
a  member  of  Eben  Plympton's  "■  Jack  "  com- 
pany. Then  she  came  under  Charles  Froh- 
man's  management,  and  was  consistently 
successful  in  such  parts  as  Evangeline  in 
"  All  the  Comforts  of  Home,"  Jennie  Buck- 
thorne  in  ''  Shenandoah,"  and  Katherine  Ten 
Broeck  Lawrence  in  "Aristocracy."  The 
last  two  plays,  it  will  be  remembered,  were 
by  Bronson  Howard,  and  he  once  took  occa- 
sion to  remark  that  Miss  Hall  came  nearer 


48         Prima  Doftnas  and  Souhrettes 

meeting  his  ideal  of  the  two  characters  she 
impersonated  than  any  other  actress  on  the 
stage. 

Then  came  her  big  hit  in  *'  The  Girl  from 
Paris,"  in  which  she  played  the  character 
part  of  Ruth,  the  slavey,  and  sang  the  ludi- 
crous "  Mary  Jane's  Top  Note."  How  she 
happened  to  hit  upon  this  fantastic  concep- 
tion, she  once  related  as  follows :  — 

"  I  felt  that  the  song  would  not  be  a  suc- 
cess unless  I  did  something  out  of  the  ordi- 
nary. The  context  of  the  song  indicated  a 
high  note,  which  was  not  given  in  London, 
so  I  conceived  the  notion  of  giving  a  high 
screech  at  the  climax,  which  proved  to  be 
just  what  it  needed.  It  was  a  difficult  song 
to  render  effectively,  as  it  had  to  be  spoken 
almost  entirely ;  and  as  I  have  a  very  good 
ear  for  music,  I  found  it  difficult  to  keep  from 
singing.  The  high  note  had  to  be  off  key  to 
make  it  more  ridiculous.  I  could  n't  have 
sung  the   song   for   any  length   of  time,  as 


Josephine  Hall  49 

the  strain  would  have  injured  my  speaking 


voice." 


During  the  first  half  of  the  season  of  1899- 
1900,  Miss  Hall  was  the  Praline  in  ''  The  Girl 
from  Maxim's,"  —  a  French  farce,  undeniably 
dirty,  but  funny  to  those  not  saturated  to  the 
point  of  boredom  with  the  foreign  variety  of 
low  comedy,  which  has  all  the  marks  of  being 
manufactured  to  order.  It  is  farce  which  drives 
the  spectator  breathlessly  along  the  road  of 
hilarity  by  means  of  a  rapidly  moving  series 
of  mechanically  conceived  situations.  "  The 
Girl  from  Maxim's "  was  bluntly  suggestive 
and  crudely  salacious,  as  are  all  these  off- 
color  French  farces  which  are  turned  into 
English,  but  it  was  also  bright  and  ingenious 
in  its  machine-like  way,  and  it  was  in  addi- 
tion very  well  acted. 

Whatever  patronage  *'  The  Girl  from  Max- 
im's "  gained  outside  of  New  York  —  and  it 
made  money,  so  I  have  understood,  both  in 
Boston  and  Philadelphia  —  was  given  it,  not 

4 


50         Prima  Donnas  ajid  Souhrettes 

because  it  was  audacious,  but  solely  on  its 
merits  as  an  entertainment.  It  has  been 
shown  time  and  time  again  that  a  farce,  which 
is  only  salacious  and  nothing  more,  cannot 
live  on  the  road.  "  The  Turtle,"  which  was 
boomed  as  the  smuttiest  thing  that  ever  was, 
but  which  was  also  stupid  and  inane,  never 
earned  a  dollar  outside  of  New  York.  "  Mile. 
Fifi,"  which  was  both  dirty  and  boresome, 
had  a  similar  experience.  **  The  Cuckoo," 
whose  suggestiveness  was  much  exploited, 
but  whose  only  merits  were  an  exceedingly 
smart  last  act  and  a.  very  fine  cast,  was  only 
mildly  patronized.  On  the  other  hand,  "  Be- 
cause She  Loved  Him  So,"  a  delightful  farce 
and  innocent  enough  for  Sunday-school  pre- 
sentation, enjoyed  two  seasons  of  prosperity 
and  kept  two  different  companies  of  players 
employed.  *' At  the  White  Horse  Tavern," 
another  fresh  and  unsmirched  farce,  also  had 
a  prosperous  run. 

No,  whatever  success  attended  "  The  Girl 


Josephine  Hall  51 

from  Maxim's  "  was  rather  in  spite  of,  instead 
of  traceable  to,  its  filth.  It  had  merit  as  a 
mirth-maker.  Its  spirit  was  unflagging,  its 
ingenuity  amazing,  and  its  character  studies 
capable.  There  was  not  a  suspicion  of  a 
drag  until  a  few  minutes  before  the  final  cur- 
tain, when  the  indefatigable  author,  George 
Feydeau,  seemed  suddenly  to  lose  his  breath. 

Josephine  Hall's  Praline,  with  all  her  doubt- 
ful morals  and  her  questionable  freedom  of 
speech  and  action,  was  an  exceedingly  attrac- 
tive young  woman.  She  bubbled  with  merri- 
ment, and  never  for  a  moment  was  she  to  the 
slightest  extent  worried  even  in  the  midst  of 
the  most  bewildering  complications.  Her 
unfailing  good  humor  was  really  the  back- 
bone of  the  play. 

Indeed,  the  faculty  of  making  black  appear 
white  seems  to  be  something  of  a  specialty 
with  Miss  Hall,  who  has  exuberance  of  spirits 
without  vulgarity  or  coarseness,  and  whose 
unconventionality  has  coupled  with  it  refine- 


52  Prima  Donnas  a7id  Soubrettes 

ment  and  inherent  delicacy.  Her  jollity  is 
whole-souled  without  harshness.  Hers  is  the 
witchery  of  personality  joined  to  an  art  that 
is  authoritative  and  complete  in  its  own 
sphere. 

*'  Mam'selle  'Awkins "  was  an  indifferent 
conglomeration  of  old  stage  jokes  and  tink- 
ling music.  That  it  should  have  succeeded 
at  all  was  an  odd  chance,  but  that  it  should 
have  entertained  Philadelphia  for  so  many 
weeks  was  indeed  a  mystery.  Honorah 
'Awkins  was  a  Cockney,  who,  with  a  fortune 
acquired  in  the  soap  trade,  was  on  the  hunt 
for  a  titled  husband.  This  was  the  plot. 
The  part  of  Honorah  was  created  by  Paula 
Edwardes,  who  took  her  work  rather  seri- 
ously and  went  in  for  a  touch  of  artistic  char- 
acter drawing.  Miss  Hall  did  not  trouble 
herself  much  about  imitating  nature.  She 
relied  wholly  on  her  ability  to  give  her  audi- 
ence a  good  time.  She  played  Mam'selle 
'Awkins  in  a  dazzling  red  wig  and  a  com- 


Josephine  Hall  53 

plexlon  that  suggested  an  hour  or  two  over 
the  kitchen  stove,  or  better  still,  considering 
the  antecedents  of  the  fair  Honorah,  over  the 
scrubbing  board.  Neither  did  Miss  Hall  go 
very  heavily  into  the  Cockney ;  she  suggested 
rather  than  reproduced,  and  then  fell  back 
on  her  powers  as  a  fun-maker  to  win  out  with 
her  audiences. 

For  her,  this  method  filled  the  bill  per- 
fectly. Of  course,  we  knew  from  previous 
experience  that  Miss  Hall  was  a  capable  ac- 
tress in  the  hurricane  variety  of  farce,  but 
she  did  not  draw  heavily  on  that  side  of  her 
artistic  equipment  in  *'  Mam'selle  'Awkins." 
She  went  in  head  over  heels  to  be  as  enter- 
taining as  possible  with  the  materials  at  hand, 
—  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  were  not  over 
abundant  —  and  with  whatever  else  she  her- 
self could  devise.  She  walked  the  tight-rope 
of  vulgarity  with  marvellous  expertness,  and 
because  she  was  Josie  Hall,  one  laughed  in- 
stead of  turning  up  his  nose. 


54         Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  has  been  con- 
tinually called  upon  to  play  all  sorts  of 
impossible  foreigners,  Miss  Hall's  humor  is 
essentially  the  humor  of  the  average  Ameri- 
can. It  is  fun  straight  out  from  the  shoul- 
der with  the  laugh  just  enough  hidden  to 
make  it  all  the  more  enjoyable  when  it  is 
discovered.  It  is  not  the  heavy  punning 
variety  so  mysteriously  popular  with  the 
Englishman,  nor  the  double  entendre  of  the 
Frenchman. 

Though  she  may  act  Cockneys  and  French 
grisettes  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  Miss  Hall 
will  always  be  what  she  was  born,  —  a  jolly 
American  girl.  And  this  suggests  a  brilliant 
idea,  —  one  that  may  be  novel  to  those  who 
up  to  date  have  had  her  artistic  fate  in  their 
hands.  Why  not  give  Miss  Hall  a  chance  to 
play  the  girl  next  door?  Why  scour  Europe 
for  a  human  specimen  which  only  warps  a 
personality  that  belongs  right  here  at  home? 
Try  her  once  in  a  character — farcical  natu- 


Josephine  Hall  55 

rally  —  that  has  some  native  stuff  in  it.  Let 
her  show  us  a  girl  whom  we  know  first-hand 
as  the  genuine  article.  I  think  that  the  re- 
sult would  be  a  surprise  for  somebody. 


CHAPTER  V 

MABELLE    OILMAN 

Very  much  in  evidence  in  the  unusually 
strong  and  brilliant  cast,  even  for  the  New 
York  Casino,  that  lent  its  assistance  to  such 
good  purpose  in  bringing  into  popular  favor 
during  the  season  of  1899- 1900  that  really 
amusing  as  well  as  highly  colored  vaudeville, 
"  The  Rounders,"  was  Mabelle  Oilman,  —  a 
young  woman  whose  stage  experience  has 
been  short,  but  whose  histrionic  and  musical 
talent,  remarkable  beauty,  winsome  person- 
ality, and  artistic  temperament  would  seem  to 
make  comparatively  safe  the  prophecy  of  an 
especially  rosy  future.  Miss  Oilman  has  two 
most  valuable  qualities  that  are  many  times 
lacking  in  girls  who  enter  the  musical  field, — 
strength  of  character  and  will  power.     One 


»     '  t    ^  t    '    1 


MABELLE    GILM.AN 
In  "  The  Casino  Girl." 


c     * 

(       c 


Mabelle  Gilma7t  57 

has  only  to  see  her  on  the  stage  to  be  con- 
vinced that  she  is  not  one  that  will  be  con- 
tent to  drift  willy-nilly  with  the  tide  on  the 
calm  sea  of  self-satisfaction  and  unambitious 
gratification. 

Equipped,  as  I  am  sure  she  is,  with  a 
serious  art  purpose,  and  richly  endowed,  as  I 
know  that  she  is,  with  so  much  that  brings 
success  in  the  theatre,  her  reputation  will  not 
long  be  confined,  as  is  at  present  the  case, 
to  the  comparatively  narrow  limits  of  two  or 
three  of  the  most  important  theatrical  centres. 

Indeed,  when  one  considers  her  youth  — 
she  is  not  yet  twenty  years  old —  and  the  few 
seasons  that  she  has  been  before  the  public. 
Miss  Oilman's  advancement  has  been  little 
short  of  phenomenal.  Although  she  was 
born  and  educated  in  San  Francisco,  the 
professional  labors  that  have  won  for  her  her 
present  position  in  musical  comedy  have 
been  entirely  confined  to  New  York,  with  the 
exception  of  a  single  short  engagement   in 


58         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

Boston  and  another  in  London.  This  has 
been,  on  the  whole,  a  fortunate  circumstance, 
for  it  has  undoubtedly  kept  her  keyed  up  to 
her  best  endeavor,  and  it  has  also  saved  her 
from  the  energy-dissipating  fatigue  of  con- 
stant travel,  and  the  artistic  inertia  resulting 
from  long  association  with  a  single  part.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  has  unquestionably  limited 
her  reputation,  and  also  deprived  her  of  the 
lessons  to  be  learned  from  acting  before  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  humanity.  The  New 
York  public  is  oddly  provincial  in  its  narrow 
self-sufficiency,  but,  worse  than  that,  it  has 
in  a  highly  developed  form  the  sheep  instinct 
of  follow-my-leader.  It  is  both  faddish  and 
freakish,  and  on  that  account  its  judgments 
are  not  always  to  be  trusted  and  its  influence 
is  sometimes  to  be  deplored. 

New  York  is  a  wonderfully  amusing  city  — 
to  the  outsider  who  watches  its  antics  from 
a  safe  distance.  It  has  the  atmosphere  of  an 
excessively  nervous  woman,  watching  appre- 


Mabelle  Gilman  59 

hensively  a  mouse-hole;  it  is  constantly  on 
the  verge,  occasionally  in  the  very  midst  of, 
hysteria.  It  enjoys  no  intellectual  calm,  no 
quiet  repose,  no  philosophical  serenity.  It  is 
always  gaping  widely  for  a  sensation,  real  or 
manufactured,  eager  as  the  child  who  is  all 
eyes  for  the  toy-balloon  man  in  the  Fourth 
of  July  crowd.  Many  times  has  this  hyster- 
ical tendency  moulded  the  affairs  of  the 
theatres  in  New  York,  and  for  that  reason 
New  York's  judgment  can  be  by  no  means 
the  all  in  all  to  the  country  at  large.  A  New 
York  reputation,  which  means  so  much  to  the 
average  man  and  woman  connected  with  the 
stage  in  this  country,  may  result  in  a  tem- 
porarily inflated  salary,  but  it  does  not 
necessarily  promise  long-continued  success. 
Far  from  it !  New  York,  after  all,  is 
merely  a  centre,  not  the  centre,  as  the 
dwellers  within  its  walls  are  firmly  convinced 
is  the  case.  It  is  not  London  monopolizing 
the  whole  of  Great  Britain,  and  it  is  not  Paris, 


6o         Prhna  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

by   common    consent   the   privileged    repre- 
sentative   of  France. 

In  the  case  of  Miss  Oilman,  however,  the 
judgment   of  New  York   is  fully  justifiable. 
Rarely  lovely  as  she  is,  —  a  perfect  brunette 
type,  black  hair,  black  eyes,  and  expressive 
face,  —  she  does  not  rely  on  her  beauty,  nor 
on  the  attractiveness  of  her  personahty  for 
success ;  she  is  an  actress  as  well.     It  should 
be  understood  that  the  spoken  drama  and  the 
musical  drama  are  two  different  things.     The 
ideal  of  the  first  is  to  create  an  impression  of 
naturalness  and  fidelity  to  nature.     It  has  its 
conventions,  but  they  are  every  one  of  them 
evils,  which  are  continually  being  uprooted  by 
the  combined    intelligence  of  the  dramatist, 
the  actor,  and  the  theatre-goer.    Conventions, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  the  very  life  of  the 
musical  drama,  which  is  in  its  whole  scheme 
a    travesty   on    nature    and    a    violation   of 
dramatic  art.     The  musical  drama  is  art  pur- 
posely  artificial.      Consequently,   while    the 


Mabelle  Gilnian  6i 

actor  in  the  spoken  drama  strives  to  the  best 
of  his  abiHty  for  sincerity  and  conviction,  and 
feels  that  he  has  attained  the  highest  when  he 
causes  the  spectator  of  his  mock  frenzy  to  for- 
get absolutely  that  the  emotion  engendered 
is  only  a  wilful  simulation  of  the  genuine 
article,  the  actor  in  the  musical  comedy  is 
purposely  and  frankly  artificial.  He  is 
limited  to  presenting  the  symbol  without 
in  the  least  striving  for  deception. 

It  is  the  quality  of  inherent  insincerity  that 
makes  anything  approaching  sentiment  dan- 
gerous in  the  musical  drama.  The  highly  dra- 
matic and  the  essentially  farcical  can  be  util- 
ized in  this  form  of  stage  representation  with 
equal  facility;  but  when  the  musical  drama 
approaches  the  comedy  field  of  the  spoken 
drama,  it  begins  at  once  to  tread  on  danger- 
ous ground.  For  this  reason  Miss  Oilman's 
greatest  achievement  in  "  The  Rounders " 
was  the  remarkable  success  with  which  she 
accomplished  the  formidable  task  of  mixing 


62         Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

sentiment  into  a  musical  comedy.  Her  role 
of  the  little  Quakeress  married  out  of  hand  to 
a  sportive  Frenchman  really  had  an  element 
of  pathos  in  it,  —  a  hint  of  pathos,  as  it  were, 
not  enough  to  be  ridiculous,  but  just  enough 
to  add  a  touch  of  human  interest  and  char- 
acter contrast  to  the  picture,  and  thus  to 
make  Priscilla  something  more  than  a  lay 
figure  in  a  popular  vaudeville. 

There  was  art  in  the  characterization,  the 
art  of  the  sensitive  and  essentially  feminine 
woman,  and  this  art  appealed  strongly  to  the 
chivalrous  side  of  man's  nature;  he  felt  at 
once  the  instinctive  desire  to  protect  this 
woman  so  remarkably  impressive  in  her 
feminine  way.  So  modest,  so  demure,  so 
innocent,  and  so  altogether  appropriate  was 
the  quiet  gray  of  the  Quakeress  gown  worn 
by  Miss  Oilman,  that  the  sight  of  her  later  on 
in  the  bathing  suit  that  would  not,  perhaps, 
have  caused  much  comment  at  Newport,  was 
a  distinct  shock,  while  the  dance  that  went 


Mabelle  Gibnan  63 

with  the  bathing  costume  song — a  dance  of 
many  boneless  bendings  and  gymnastic  kicks 
and  contortionist  feats  —  was  only  believed 
as  a  fact  because  it  was  seen.  Theoretically, 
one  would  be  justified  in  claiming  that  Miss 
Gilman  never  danced  it. 

Moreover,  according  to  all  precedents,  this 
astonishing  exhibition  should  have  destroyed 
at  once  and  forever  all  the  sentiment  in  Miss 
Oilman's  Quakeress,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  When  she  re- 
sumed her  quiet  gray,  she  was  again  the 
same  winsome,  pathetic,  in-need-of-protection 
httle  thing  as  before.  A  paradox  such  as 
this  is  only  explainable  in  one  way :  the  per- 
petrator of  it  knows  how  to  act  and  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  prettily  decorated  bit  of 
personality. 

Another  surprise,  which  Miss  Gilman  has 
in  store  for  those  who  pass  judgment  regard- 
ing her  complete  artistic  equipment  at  first 
sight  of  her   face,  is   her   singing   voice.     I 


64  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

know  that  I  expected  to  hear  the  plaintive, 
faint,  and  indefinite  piping  that  goes  with 
so  many  girlishly  innocent  soubrettes.  It 
proved,  however,  a  full  and  satisfying  so- 
prano, rich  and  mellow,  a  soprano  which  did 
not  make  holes  in  the  atmosphere  on  the 
top  notes.  She  has  had  the  advantage  of 
instruction  in  singing  from  Mr.  George  Sweet 
of  New  York,  who  is  justly  proud  of  his 
pupil. 

While  Miss  Oilman  was  a  student  at  Mills 
College  in  San  Francisco,  Augustin  Daly 
heard  her  recite,  arid  was  sufficiently  im- 
pressed with  her  ability  to  offer  her  a  place 
in  his  New  York  company.  She  lost  no  time 
in  coming  East  and  at  once  signed  with  Mr, 
Daly  for  a  term  of  five  years.  His  death 
occurred  before  this  contract  had  expired, 
and  it  was  thus  that  it  happened  that  Miss 
Oilman  was  free  to  join  Oeorge  W.  Lederer's 
forces  at  the  Casino  in  New  York. 

While  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Daly, 


Mabelle  Gihnan  65 

Miss  Oilman  played  in  "The  Tempest"  and 
"  The  Merchant  of  Venice."  Her  Jessica  in 
the  latter  drama  was  an  exquisitely  charming 
bit,  and  received  the  especial  commendation 
of  Mr.  Daly.  Of  the  Daly  musical  comedy 
productions  she  appeared  in  *'  The  Geisha," 
''  The  Circus  Girl,"  *'  La  Poupee,"  and  '*  A 
Runaway  Girl."  Priscilla,  in  "The  Round- 
ers," was  her  first  part  at  the  Casino,  and 
during  the  spring  of  1900  she  was  one  of  the 
prominent  features  in  "The  Casino  Girl,"  a 
Harry  B.  Smith  product.  The  fineness  of 
Miss  Oilman's  art  as  shown  in  this  work  was 
thus  commented  on  :  — 

"  The  production  brings  distinctly  to  the 
front  Miss  Mabelle  Oilman,  one  of  the  most 
conscientious  young  actresses  on  the  stage. 
Miss  Oilman's  work  shows  that  she  is  a  care- 
ful student  of  her  art.  Everything  is  done 
by  method,  and  yet  with  such  ease  and 
naturalness  that  one  might  imagine  it  was 
play  and  no  work.     Miss  Oilman  has  a  sweet, 

5 


66  Prima  Donnas  and  Soiihrettes 

well-cultivated  voice,  and  uses  it  apparently 
without  effort,  but  to  the  greatest  advantage." 
Miss  Oilman's  experience  at  the  Casino  has 
developed  in  her  an  appreciation  of  comedy 
and  a  quiet  vein  of  humor  that  she  had  not 
previously  shown. 


i  J  > 

1     '  > 


1  »  1 

I  »  1  ■» 

.  >  .  ,J 

»  J  1          t 


FAY    TEMPLETON 
Singing  the  "  Coon  "  Song,  "  My  Tiger  Lily." 


CHAPTER  VI 

FAY    TEMPLETON 

Born  almost  literally  in  the  theatre,  and 
cradled  as  a  baby  in  a  champagne  wardrobe 
basket,  a  full-fledged  '*  professional "  at  the 
tender  age  of  three  years,  it  would  have  been 
marvellous,  indeed,  if  Fay  Templeton  had 
become  anything  else  except  an  actress. 
When  I  heard  these  tales  of  Fay  Templeton's 
Hfe  in  the  nursery  period  of  her  existence, — 
stories  of  how  she  had  often  slept  in  the 
dressing-room  while  her  mother,  Alice  Vane, 
died  nightly  in  the  leading  role  of  some  old- 
time  tragedy,  of  the  nights  and  the  days  of 
travel,  of  all  the  nerve-racking  hardships  that 
made  up  the  weary,  weary  life  of  the  actor 
**  on  the  road,"  —  I  was  strongly  reminded  of 
the    early   life    of    Minnie    Maddern    Fiske. 


68  Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

Both  were  children  of  the  theatre ;  and  forth- 
with we  who  are  not  children  of  the  theatre 
exclaim,  how  pathetic  that  is  !  So  they  seem 
to  me,  I  must  confess,  these  children  without 
homes  and  without  companions  of  their  own 
age,  knowing  nothing  of  the  pleasure  of 
quarrelling  and  making  up  again,  children 
whom  one  never  thinks  of  as  young,  and  yet 
who  cannot  really  be  old,  brought  up  as  they 
are  in  the  indescribable  and  contradictory 
atmosphere  that  is  characteristic  of  the  stage, 
an  atmosphere  of  hypocrisy  and  simple- 
mindedness,  of  contemptible  smallness  of 
spirit  and  self-sacrificing  generosity,  of  petty 
spitefulness  and  frank  good  fellowship,  of 
foolish  jealousies  and  whole-souled  democ- 
racy. With  all  their  artificiality,  superficial- 
ity, and  self-sufficiency,  I  think  that  there  is, 
on  the  whole,  more  frankness,  sincerity,  and 
honest  selfishness  among  stage  folks  than 
among  any  other  class  of  society.  In  certain 
respects,  actors  are  in  their  relations  with  one 


Fay  Templeton  69 

another  far  less   the    actor   than    are    many 
persons  who  are  not  supposed  to  act  at  all. 

A  strange  thing  must  life  seem  to  the  child  of 
the  theatre,  when  he  gets  old  enough  to  think 
about  it.     He  looks  upon  the   world  topsy- 
turvy, as  it  were.     The  serious  things  of  his 
life  are  the  frivolities  of  the  work-a-day  world, 
and  the  viewpoint  of  these  work-a-days  must 
be  a  constant  source  of  perplexity  to  him. 
He  must  wonder,  for  instance,  why  they  go 
to  the  theatre  at  all,  why  they  are  so  foolish 
as  to  spend  money,  which  is  such  a  rare  and 
precious   thing,  to  behold  the  commonplace 
and  dreary  business  of  play-acting.     How  he, 
the  pitied    one  of  the  world  of   homes  and 
domesticated  firesides,  in  his  turn  must  pity 
those  easily  beguiled  individuals  who  practise 
theatre-going  !     How  he  must  smile  ironically 
at  their  sophisticated  innocence  and  be  even 
shocked    at    their    unaccountable  ignorance! 
Thus  it  happens  that  he  pities  us  because  we 
have    illusions    about  things   that  he   knows 


70  Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

are  the  crudest  delusions,  and  we  pity  him 
because  he  Hves  a  life  so  far  apart  from  ours 
that  we  can  see  nothing  in  it  but  hardship 
and  unhappiness.  We  of  the  homes  waste 
our  tears  on  him  who  feels  no  need  of  a 
home,  who,  contented  with  his  lot  and  glory- 
ing in  his  freedom,  scorns  publicly  the  narrow 
monotony  of  a  seven  A.  M.  to  six  P.  M.  with 
an  hour  off  for  luncheon  at  noon  existence. 
Which  is  right?     Both  —  and  neither. 

But  to  return  to  Fay  Templeton  and  Mrs. 
Fiske.  Miss  Templeton  made  her  first 
appearance  on  the  stage  when  she  was  three 
years  old,  dressed  as  a  Cupid  and  singing 
fairy  songs.  Mrs.  Fiske  began  even  younger, 
and  she,  too,  was  a  singer.  Arrayed  in  a 
Scotch  costume  of  her  mother's  making,  she 
piped  in  a  shrill  treble  between  the  tragedy 
and  the  farce  a  ballad  about  *'  Jamie  Coming 
over  the  Meadow."  After  this  infantile  ex- 
periment, however,  Mrs.  Fiske  forsook  the 
lyric    stage    practically   for    good    and    all, 


Fay  Templet  on  71 

although  she  did  at  one  time  play  Ralph 
Rackstraw  in  Hooley's  Juvenile  Pinafore  Com- 
pany. Miss  Templeton,  on  the  other  hand, 
clung  faithfully  to  opera  and  the  allied  forms 
of  theatrical  entertainment,  particularly  that 
branch  known  as  burlesque,  in  which  she  was 
and  still  is  an  adept  without  a  compare.  The 
nearest  that  she  ever  came  to  being  identified 
with  what  player-folk  delight  to  call  the 
"legitimate"  was  when  at  the  age  of  seven 
years  she  played  Puck  in  Augustin  Daly's 
production  of  Shakespeare's  **A  Midsum- 
mer Night's  Dream "  at  the  Grand  Opera 
House  in  New  York.  This  was  considered  a 
remarkable  impersonation,  especially  for  a 
child  of  seven,  and  it  received  the  special 
commendation  of  Mr.  Daly  himself.  Miss 
Templeton's  success  at  so  youthful  an  age 
was,  to  be  sure,  most  unusual,  but  it  was  by 
no  means  inexpHcable,  if  one  only  knew  that 
she  had  had,  even  at  that  time,  four  years' 
experience  on  the   stage,   and  that  she  had 


72  Prima  Domias  and  Soiibrettes 

starred,  principally  throughout  the  West  and 
South,  at  the  head  of  a  company  managed 
by  her  father,  John  Templeton. 

The  generalization  that  infant  stage  prodi- 
gies never  amount  to  anything  has  fully  as 
great  a  percentage  of  truth  in  its  favor  as 
any  other  generalization,  but  there  are  occa- 
sional exceptions.  Mrs.  Fiske,  already  re- 
ferred to,  was  one ;  Delia  Fox  was  another ; 
and  Fay  Templeton  was  a  third,  and  possibly 
the  most  remarkable  case  of  all.  Mrs.  Fiske 
at  least  had  the  advantage  of  the  intellectual 
training  of  the  classic  drama,  and  Delia  Fox, 
after  her  precocious  success  as  a  child,  was 
kept  faithfully  at  school  for  a  number  of 
years  by  stern  parental  authority;  but  Fay 
Templeton  during  her  childhood  was  contin- 
ually associated  —  with  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  Puck  —  with  the  lightest  and  frothiest 
in  the  theatrical  business.  More  than  that 
she  was  at  the  head  of  the  company,  the  star, 
the  praised  and  petted.     Whoever  saved  her 


Fay  Templeton  73 

from  herself  and  the  disastrous  results  of 
childish  self-conceit  is  entitled  to  the  greatest 
credit. 

After  her  hit  in  New  York  in  "A  Mid- 
summer's Night's  Dream,"  Miss  Templeton 
travelled  to  San  Francisco  with  her  father 
and  James  A.  Heme.  There  she  became  a 
prima  donna  in  miniature,  and  charmed  the 
Cahfornians,  especially  by  her  imitations  of 
the  prominent  grand  opera  and  comic  opera 
artists  of  the  day.  Her  San  Francisco  expe- 
rience was  followed  by  her  appearance  at 
Niblo's  Garden,  New  York,  as  Parepa  Rosa, 
Aimee,  and  Lucca.  The  next  half-a-dozen 
years  were  spent  principally  in  the  South, 
where  she  starred  in  a  repertory  of  which  her 
Puck  in  "  A  Midsummer's  Night's  Dream " 
was  the  chief  feature. 

Fay  Templeton  was  fifteen  years  old  when 
she  became  a  recognized  light  opera  star  of 
national  reputation.  She  was  the  original  in 
this  country   and  the  best-known   Bettina  in 


74         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

"The  Mascotte,"  and  she  also  appeared  in 
*'  Girofle-Girofla."  For  two  years  she  played 
Gabriel,  which  was  created  by  Eliza  Weath- 
erby,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Lydia 
Thompson  burlesquers,  in  "  Evangeline,"  and 
she  was  also  in  the  revival  of  *'  The  Corsair." 
At  the  Fourteenth  Street  Theatre,  New 
York,  in  August,  1890,  after  a  period  of 
absence  from  the  stage.  Miss  Templeton 
brought  out  the  burlesque  called  "  Hendrick 
Hudson ;  or,  The  Discovery  of  Columbus,"  by 
Robert  Frazer  and  William  Gill.  This  told 
an  imaginary  story  of  the  meeting,  at  the  El 
Dorado  Spring  in  Florida,  of  Columbus  lost 
on  his  third  expedition  to  America,  and 
Hudson.  It  was  not  an  unfruitful  theme  for 
burlesque  treatment,  but  the  work  itself  was 
poorly  put  together,  disconnected,  and  prone 
to  drag.  Neither  was  Miss  Templeton  her- 
self all  that  could  be  desired.  She  was  ap- 
parently in  a  state  of  transition.  She  had 
lost  the    roguish    girlishness   that   made  her 


Fay  Temple  ton  75 

Gabriel  so  charming,  and  she  had  not  yet 
learned  to  give  free  rein  to  the  rich  individu- 
ality and  the  unctuous  humor  that  are  so 
characteristic  of  her  work  at  the  present  time. 
No  dramatic  critic  would  say  to-day,  as  was 
said  at  that  time,  of  the  production  of  "  Hen- 
drik  Hudson,"  that  "  it  must  be  written,  in 
reluctant  sorrow,  that  Miss  Templeton  was 
not  sufficient  in  talent  nor  in  charm  to  lead  a 
burlesque  company  to  great  success,"  Miss 
Templeton  was  not  seen  again,  after  the  short 
and  inglorious  career  of  "  Hendrik  Hudson," 
until  she  brought  out  "  Mme.  Favart  "  during 
the  season  of  1893-94. 

The  piece  that  re-established  her  in  public 
favor,  however,  was  "  Excelsior,  Jr. ;  "  New 
York,  in  particular,  finding  her  impersonation 
of  the  up-to-date  young  man  about  town  very 
much  to  its  liking.  After  she  joined  the 
Weber  and  Fields  organization  in  New  York 
and  unexpectedly  shone  forth  as  a  marvel- 
lously entrancing  interpreter  of  coon  "  songs, 


76         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

she   clinched    her  hold    on   the    public  with 
which  she  is  now  an  established  favorite. 

During  the  season  of  1 899-1900  Fay  Tem- 
pleton  was  identified  with  those  two  gorgeous 
productions,  "  The  Man  in  the  Moon  "  and 
**  Broadway  to  Tokio,"  besides  taking  a  flyer 
into  vaudeville,  where  she  first  brought  out  her 
wonderful  imitation  of  Fougere,  the  French 
chanteuse.  In  shows  Hke  "■  The  Man  in  the 
Moon "  and  "  Broadway  to  Tokio "  one  is 
expected  to  have  nothing  with  him  except 
the  two  senses  of  sight  and  hearing.  It  is 
the  spectator's  part  to  take  what  comes  — 
and  it  is  supposed  to  come  constantly  and 
rapidly  —  simply  for  the  sake  of  the  mo- 
ment's fun  that  there  may  be  in  it.  His  cue 
is  to  laugh  at  the  stage  jokes  of  the  hard- 
worked  comedians,  and  to  be  dazzled  into  a 
semi-hypnotic  state  by  the  dancing  women 
posturing  amid  marvellous  effects  of  light 
and  color.  They  are  eminently  entertain- 
ments to  be  felt  and  not  thought  about.     One 


Fay  Templeton  77 

is  constantly  receiving  new  impressions,  and 
just  as  constantly  forgetting  all  about  them. 
The  result  is  that  after  the  shows  are  all  over, 
one  is  surprised  to  find  that  from  the  mass 
of  material  he  has  retained  no  one  impression 
distinctly.  He  remembers  only  flashes  here 
and  there. 

One  figure,  however,  was  revealed  by  each 
and  every  one  of  these  memory  flashes,  — 
that  of  Fay  Templeton,  whose  wonderful  ver- 
satility as  an  entertainer,  and  whose  pure 
virtuosity  as  an  artist,  both  of  them  given  free 
rein  in  these  spectacles,  raised  her  head  and 
shoulders  above  her  associates  in  the  two 
casts. 

In  "The  Man  in  the  Moon"  there  was 
nothing  else  that  evidenced  half  the  art  shown 
in  her  singing  of  the  ditty  "  I  Want  a  Filipino 
Man."  It  was,  it  is  true,  a  fearfully  sugges- 
tive study  of  elemental  human  passion,  a 
song  of  hot  blood  and  crude,  unblushing 
animalism.     But  it  was  wonderfully  well  done, 


78  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

and  the  swing  of  its  rhythmic  sensuality  was 
not  to  be  resisted. 

Two  things  that  Fay  Templeton  did  in 
"  Broadway  to  Tokio  "  I  recall  with  especial 
vividness.  One  was  her  treatment  of  the 
cake-walk,  commonly  a  prosaic,  athletic  ex- 
hibition of  increasing  boredom.  She  evolved 
from  the  conventional  prancing  of  the  gay 
soubrette  a  dance  whose  appeal  to  the  imagi- 
nation was  intense,  a  dance  into  which  might 
be  read  many  meanings.  Her  cake-walk  was 
the  embodiment  of  languorous  grace  and  the 
acme  of  sensuous  charm.  It  breathed  an 
atmosphere  of  tropical  indolence.  It  sug- 
gested the  lazy  enjoyment  of  the  cool  of  the 
evening  after  a  long  day  of  hot,  fierce  sum- 
mer sunshine,  the  time  when  one  dreams  idly 
of  fleshly  delights.  It  was  a  dance  teeming 
with  passion,  passion  quiescent,  which  a 
breath  would  fan  into  a  blaze. 

Miss  Templeton's  second  remarkable 
achievement  was  her  imitation  of  Fougere, 


Fay  Templeton  79 

or,  better  still,  her  impersonation  of  Fougere. 
It  is  difficult  to  describe  intelligently  just  the 
effect  of  Miss  Templeton's  art  in  this  spe- 
cialty. It  was  not  a  photographic  copy  of 
the  external  Fougere ;  it  was  rather  a  repro- 
duction of  the  Fougere  personahty.  Indeed, 
she  pictured  only  with  indifferent  fidehty  the 
Fougere  mannerisms,  but  she  placed  before 
one,  with  almost  uncanny  accuracy,  the 
Fougere  individuality  and  the  Fougere  stage 
appeal. 

It  was,  in  fact,  acting  as  distinguished  from 
mimicking.  Fay  Templeton  literally  repre- 
sented Fougere  as  she  might  a  dramatist's  im- 
aginary personage.  Temperamentally,  Miss 
Templeton  does  not  in  the  remotest  way  sug- 
gest Fougere.  The  French  woman,  indeed, 
is  just  what  Fay  Templeton  is  not.  She  is 
thin,  she  is  nervous  with  a  champagne  sparkle, 
and  she  is  perpetually  and  restlessly  vivacious 
in  her  artificial  French  way.  Fay  Templeton 
is  not  thin,  and  her  personality  is  far  away 


8o  Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

from  nervousness.  Where  Fougere  would 
worry  herself  half  to  death,  Fay  Templeton 
would  insist  on  solid  comfort  and  plenty  of 
time  to  think,  even  a  chance  to  sleep,  over 
the  vexing  problem.  One  pictures  Fay  Tem- 
pleton as  passing  her  leisure  moments  in  the 
luxurious  embrace  of  a  thickly  wadded  couch 
piled  high  with  the  softest  of  pillows.  Nor  is 
hers  the  champagne  temperament,  —  rather 
that  of  rich  and  mellow  old  Madeira,  a  wine 
of  substance,  of  delicate  aroma  and  of  fruity 
flavor,  which  does  not  immediately  bubble 
itself  into  a  state  of  insipidness. 


MADGE    LESSING. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MADGE   LESSING 

Madge  Lessing  had  been  on  the  stage  a 
number  of  years  before  she  suddenly  sprang 
full  Into  the  illuminating  power  of  the  Hme- 
light  of  publicity  as  the  principal  part  of  the 
astonishing  success  of  that  alluring  beauty 
show,  "  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk."  At  that 
time  everybody  made  the  discovery  that  no 
one  knew  exactly  who  she  was,  and  Miss 
Lessing  has  succeeded  even  to  this  day  in 
shrouding  her  early  life  In  mystery.  This 
much  is  known, —  that  she  ran  away  from 
home  to  go  on  the  stage.  She  came  to  the 
United  States  from  London  about  1890  and 
became  a  chorus  girl  at  Koster  and  Bial's  in 
New  York.  She  remained  in  that  humble 
position  only  a  week,  being  promoted  at  one 

6 


82  Prima  Donnas  arid  Soiihrettes 

step  to  the  title  role  in  the  burlesque,  "  Belle 
Helene."  Her  next  engagement  was  with  the 
Solomon  Opera  Company,  and  this  was  fol- 
lowed by  her  appearance  in  **  The  Passing 
Show  "  and  "  The  Whirl  of  the  Town." 

As  far  as  the  casual  theatre-goer  was  con- 
cerned, however,  she  did  not  exist  until  the 
Klaw  and  Erlanger  production  of  "  Jack  and 
the  Beanstalk."  This  extravaganza,  like 
"  1492,"  also  the  work  of  R.  A.  Barnet,  was 
first  brought  out  by  the  First  Corps  of  Cadets 
of  Boston,  and  it  is  still  counted  the  greatest 
success  that  this  brilliant  troupe  of  amateurs 
ever  had.  In  the  Cadet  performances  the 
principals  and  chorus  were  all  men,  and 
naturally  this  order  of  things  was  changed 
when  the  extravaganza  passed  over  into  the 
professional  hands.  Otherwise  it  was  given 
practically  in  its  original  form. 

Mr.  Barnet  struck  a  veritable  gold  mine 
when  he  hit  upon  the  idea  of  dramatizing 
Mother  Goose.     "  Jack  "  was  his  first  plough- 


Madge  Lessing  83 

ing  of  this  field,  and  although  he  has  worked 
it  often  since,  he  has  not  yet  succeeded  in 
getting  from  the  old  ground  another  crop  so 
exactly  suited  to  the  popular  taste.  Mr.  Barnet 
undoubtedly  got  his  general  scheme  from  the 
annual  London  pantomimes.  His  work  was 
loosely  constructed,  and  his  lines  were  not  all 
of  them  of  the  kind  that  readily  cross  the 
footlights.  His  wit,  while  wholly  conven- 
tional, was  also  a  trifle  involved.  It  did  not 
sparkle.  His  situations,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  effective,  and  especially  were  they 
adaptable  to  expansion  under  the  gentle 
administration  of  a  stage  manager  with  an 
eye  for  light  and  color  and  pleasing  group- 
ings. In  the  process  of  development  the 
spectacular  qualities  of  "  Jack  and  the  Bean- 
stalk "  came  prominently  into  the  foreground, 
while  the  literary  qualities  —  a  purely  descrip- 
tive phrase,  which  in  this  connection  grace- 
fully designates  a  condition  without  stating 
a  fact  —  were  lost  in  the  midst  of  the  substi- 


84  Prima  Domias  and  Soubrettes 

tutions  by  players  with  specialties.  The 
stage  wit  of  actors  has  one  advantage  over 
that  of  writers  of  dialogue ;  it  may  not  be 
analyzed,  it  may  be  utterly  inane  on  examina- 
tion, but  it  does  crackle  for  the  moment.  In 
fact,  it  exists  only  because  it  crackles. 

Thus  "  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk "  became 
in  the  course  of  its  evolution  the  conventional 
spectacular  extravaganza  of  theatrical  com- 
merce, of  which  Mr.  Barnet  was  the  sponsor 
rather  than  the  creator.  It  was  also,  at  the 
time  of  its  production,  a  marvellous  exploita- 
tion of  feminine  loveliness,  and  the  especial 
gem  of  the  great  array  was  the  bewildering 
vision  of  physical  perfection,  Madge  Lessing, 
in  the  principal  boy's  part  of  Jack.  No  great 
amount  of  histrionic  talent  was  demanded  of 
her,  for  her  success  depended,  not  so  much 
on  what  she  did  as  how  she  looked. 

Madge  Lessing  then  and  there  established 
herself  as  the  exception  that  proved  the  rule. 
I  confess  that  I  usually  find  the  woman  in 


Madge  Lessing  85 

tights  a  decided  disillusionment.     Instead  of 
making  a  subtle  and  seductive  appeal  to  the 
imagination,  she  is  a  prosaic  fact ;  interesting, 
possibly,   as  an  anatomical   study,   she  loses 
in    a   peculiar   way   the    fascinations    of  the 
feminine  gender.     When  tights  enter  into  the 
problem,  there  is  a  vast  difference   between 
the    womanly    woman    and     the    womanish 
woman.     The  first  is  a  rare  and,  I  may  also 
add,  a  pure  delight.     The  second  is  merely 
an  embarrassment. 

Miss  Lessing  belonged,   in  "Jack  and  the 
Beanstalk,"  to  the  class  of  womanly  women. 
She   was    as    femininely    alluring   amid    the 
bald   disclosures    of  unblushing    fleshings  as 
amid  the  tantalizing  exasperations  of  swish- 
ing   draperies.     Her     beauty    was     exuber- 
ant, voluptuous,  pulse-stirring,  —  a  laughing, 
happy    face,    crowned    and    encircled    with 
tangled    masses   of  dark   brown   hair,   which 
made  her  head  almost  too  large,  to  be  sure, 
though  size  counted  for  little  amid  the  ravish- 


86         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

ments  of  sparkling  eyes  and  kissable  dimples 
that  danced  in  and  out  on  either  cheek. 

Miss  Lessing  walked  through  this  part  of  Jack 
—  walking  through  was  all  that  was  demanded 
of  her  —  with  a  pretty  unaffectedness  that  met 
all  requirements,  and  she  sang  with  a  voice  of 
considerable  sweetness,  but  of  no  great  power. 
Still,  she  has  in  a  mild,  inoffensive  way  some 
small  ability  as  an  actress.  This  was  shown 
in  '*  A  Dangerous  Maid  "  and  in  **  The  Round- 
ers," which  followed  her  engagement  in  that 
failure  imported  from  London,  ''  Little  Red 
Riding  Hood,"  which  was  brought  out  in 
Boston  just  before  Christmas,   1899. 

In  "  The  Rounders "  Miss  Lessing  suc- 
ceeded Mabelle  Oilman  as  Priscilla  during  the 
run  of  that  brisk  vaudeville  at  the  Columbia 
Theatre,  Boston.  It  is  a  thankless  task,  that 
of  successorship  which  results  inevitably  in 
direct  comparisons,  but  Miss  Lessing  met  the 
test  surprisingly  well.  Without  Miss  Gil- 
man's  strength  of  personality  and  less  appar- 


Madge  Lessing  87 

ent  art,  Miss  Lessing  indicated  with  unmis- 
takable   correctness   the    sentimental    atmos- 
phere of  prudish  modesty,  which  represents 
Priscilla    as     a     dramatic     character.     With 
memories  of  "  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk"  —  they 
seem  inevitable  where  Miss  Lessing  is  con- 
cerned —  one  was  a  little  bewildered  at  Pris- 
cilla's  embarrassment  in  her  ballet  costume 
during   the  scene    in   Thea's   dressing-room. 
This  bewilderment  was  due  to  Miss  Lessing's 
inability     to     impersonate.     She     is     always 
Madge  Lessing  acting,  —  never  Madge  Les- 
sing identified  with  another  and  wholly  differ- 
ent personaHty;  and  at  the  sight  of  Madge 
Lessing  embarrassed  because  she  wore  tights, 
one  had  a  right  to  be  bewildered. 

During  the  Spring  of  1900  Miss  Lessing 
also  appeared  in  the  title  role  of  ''  The  Lady 
Slavey  "  when  that  musical  farce  was  revived 
in  Boston. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

JESSIE  BARTLETT  DAVIS 

The  name  and  fame  of  Jessie  Bartlett 
Davis  are  linked  inseparably  with  the  his- 
tory of  that  prominent  light  opera  organiza- 
tion, The  Bostonians,  with  which  she  was 
connected  for  ten  years,  and  from  which  she 
resigned  during  the  summer  of  1899.  If  the 
proprietors  of  The  Bostonians  had  ever  ac- 
knowledged that  it  were  possible  for  any  one 
to  be  a  star  in  their  troupe,  that  star  would 
have  been  Mrs.  Davis.  To  be  sure,  tradition 
would  have  been  violated  by  such  a  proced- 
ure, for  Mrs.  Davis  is  a  contralto,  and  tradi- 
tion decrees  that  a  soprano  shall  be  the  only 
woman  star  in  opera.  The  composer  naturally 
conceives  his  heroine  as  a  soprano.  In  fact, 
his  heroine  must  be  a  soprano  in  order  that  he 
may  invent  brilliants  for  her  to  sing.     You 


Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  89 

cannot  do  that  sort  of  thing  for  the  mellow- 
toned  contralto,  and  consequently  she  is  never 
the  centre  of  feminine  interest.  When  a  com- 
poser needs  a  contralto  for  a  quartette  or 
something  of  that  kind,  he  usually  puts  her  in 
tights  and  calls  her  a  man,  gets  her  as  litde 
involved  in  the  plot  as  possible,  gives  her 
some  heart-throbbing  songs  and  uses  her 
voice  effectively  for  padding  in  the  choruses, 
where  the  high  notes  of  his  heroine  soprano 
shine  like  diamonds. 

There  is,  however,  one  seriously  practical 
reason  for  the  neglect  of  the  contralto, 
Sopranos,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  are 
almost  as  common  as  piano-players,  but  con- 
traltos —  even  bad  and  indifferent  contraltos 
—  are  rare  enough  to  be  noted  when  found ; 
while  contraltos  that  vocally  are  entitled  to 
rank  with  the  best  light  opera  sopranos  are 
so  uncommon  it  is  not  strange  that  no  one 
thought  it  worth  while  to  write  operas  espe- 
cially for  them. 


90         Prima  Doii7ias  and  Soiihrettes 

When  one  does  find  such  a  contralto,  he 
hears  a  quality  of  tone  that  is  charged 
with  sympathetic  appeal.  Where  the  so- 
prano IS  sparkling,  the  contralto  is  thrilling. 
Where  the  soprano  is  vivacious,  happy,  de- 
lighting in  the  sunshine,  the  contralto  is 
fervid,  passionate,  and  throbbing  with  senti- 
ment. In  Mrs.  Davis's  case,  with  the  voice 
is  also  united  an  attractive  personality  and 
comely  face  and  figure,  as  well  as  no  mean 
gifts  as  an  actress.  Mrs,  Davis's  natural 
voice  is  a  magnificent  instrument,  but  whether 
she  made  as  much  of  it  as  she  might, 
especially  in  later  years,  is  a  question.  A 
large  voice  carries  with  it  its  responsibilities. 
The  singer,  with  vast  resources  at  his  com- 
mand, finds  it  so  easy  to  make  an  impression 
on  the  unmusicianly  auditor  merely  by  let- 
ting the  big  voice  go,  to  win  applause  by 
making  a  tremendous  volume  of  sound,  that 
one  need  not  be  surprised  to  discover  in 
such   a   singer    a  growing   tendency  toward 


Jessie  Bar  tie  tt  Davis  91 

broad  and  somewhat  coarse  effects  and  a 
lessening  appreciation  of  delicacy,  of  light 
and  shade,  of  phrasing,  and  of  the  finer  varia- 
tions of  expression. 

However,  if  Mrs.  Davis  has  made  such  a  crit- 
icism not  altogether  undeserved,  it  is  equally 
true  that  she  has  never  permitted  herself— 
even  after  her  performances  of  Alan-a-Dale 
in  *'  Robin  Hood "  passed  the  t^vo-thou- 
sandth  mark  —  to  become  wholly  a  victim 
of  musical  charlatanism,  which  in  the  "  Robin 
Hood  "  instance  just  cited  would  not  only  have 
been  excusable  but  was  wellnigh  unavoidable. 
She  has  never  been  forgetful  of  the  art  of 
interpretation  and  of  expression,  and  by 
means  of  her  beautiful  voice  she  has  kept 
herself  well  in  the  lead  among  the  light 
opera    contraltos. 

Sympathy  in  a  contralto  is  a  prime  essen- 
tial. She  must  appeal  to  the  heart  with  her 
rich,  pulsating  tones.  It  is  not  her  province 
to  electrify  by  vocal  gymnastics;  she  is  the 


92         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

conveyer  of  emotion.  If  this  emotion  be  true 
and  honest  and  sincere,  then  the  singer  brings 
a  message  that  enriches,  ennobles,  and  broad- 
ens ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  emotion  be 
false  and  artificial,  the  singer,  however  admi- 
rable her  art  in  other  respects,  fails  lamentably 
in  a  most  important  particular.  The  highest 
praise  that  can  be  given  Mrs.  Davis  is  that 
she  has  rarely  failed  to  impress  her  audiences 
with  the  truth  and  sincerity  of  the  emotion 
inspired  by  her  music. 

Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  was  born  in  Morris, 
Illinois,  a  little  town  ,not  far  from  Chicago,  in 
1866.  She  came  from  good  New  England 
stock,  her  parents  having  moved  to  Illinois 
from  Keene,  New  Hampshire,  where  her 
father  was  the  school-teacher,  the  leader  of 
the  church  choir,  and  the  instructor  in  music 
to  the  few  persons  in  the  town  who  cared  to  em- 
ploy him  in  that  capacity.  One  day  he  fell 
in  love  with  a  seventeen-year-old  miss,  who 
apphed    to   him    for   a   position   as   school- 


Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  93 

teacher,  and  shortly  after  married  her.  The 
Bartlett  family  was  a  large  one,  —  four  girls 
and  four  boys,  besides  Jessie,  who  might  be 
called  the  pivot  of  the  family,  three  of  the 
boys  being  older  and  three  of  the  girls 
younger  than  she.  It  is  interesting  to  know, 
too,  that  during  the  Civil  War  Mrs.  Davis's 
father  enlisted  and  served  his  time  as  a 
soldier. 

There  was  no  spare  money  in  this  house- 
hold to  spend  on  a  musical  education  for 
Jessie  Bartlett,  who  began  to  sing  almost 
before  she  could  talk.  When  she  could 
scarcely  toddle,  she  would  climb  on  the  stool 
before  the  old-fashioned  melodeon,  strike 
away  at  the  notes  of  the  instrument  with  her 
tiny  fists,  and  sing  at  the  top  of  her  voice. 
Her  father  taught  her  all  that  he  knew  about 
music,  and  by  the  time  that  she  was  twelve 
years  old,  she  was  the  leading  spirit  in  every 
musical  event  in  the  town.  Her  voice  was 
something  tremendous,  —  **  loud    enough    to 


94         Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

drive  every  one  out  of  the  schoolhouse  when 
I  opened  my  mouth,"  according  to  her  own 
statement.  In  fact,  she  was  at  that  time 
chiefly  concerned  about  the  amount  of  noise 
that  she  could  make,  and  she  used  her  big 
voice  at  the  fullest  extent,  habitually  and 
wilfully  drowning  out  anybody  who  dared  to 
join  in  the  singing  when  she  was  present. 
She  sang  in  the  church  choir,  and  wherever 
else  there  was  any  one  to  listen  to  her. 

Finally,  when  she  was  fifteen  years  old,  she 
became  a  member  of  Mrs.  Caroline  Richings 
Bernard's  "  Old  Folks' "  Concert  Company  at 
a  salary  of  seven  dollars  a  week,  and  her 
voice,  even  then,  uncultivated  as  it  was,  at- 
tracted considerable  attention.  When  the 
troupe  disbanded  in  1876,  she  returned  to 
her  home  in  Morris.  Next  she  was  given  an 
engagement  to  sing  in  the  Church  of  the 
Messiah  in  Chicago,  and  the  whole  family 
moved  to  that  city  with  her.  While  singing 
in  church,  she  also  studied  with  Fred  Root, 


Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  95 

son  of   George    F.   Root,  the    composer   of 
many  popular   ballads. 

The"  Pinafore  "  craze  was  directly  respon- 
sible for  Jessie  Bartlett's  entrance  into  opera. 
John  Haverly  heard  her  sing  while  he  was 
making  the  rounds  of  the  church  choirs  look- 
ing up  members  for  the  Chicago  Church 
Choir  *'  Pinafore  "  Company,  and  engaged  her 
for  the  part  of  Little  Buttercup  at  a  salary  of 
fifty  dollars  a  week.  It  was  therefore  in  this 
role  that  she  made  her  debut  on  the  operatic 
stage.  At  the  end  of  the  season  she  married 
the  manager,  William  J.  Davis,  who  Is  at 
present  prominently  connected  with  theatri- 
cal affairs  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Davis  firmly  believed  in  his  wife's 
future,  and  after  her  "  Pinafore  "  engagement 
was  over  he  advised  her  to  decline  all  further 
ofTers  until  she  had  learned  better  how  to 
use  her  voice.  He  took  her  to  New  York, 
where  she  became  a  pupil  of  Signor  Albites. 
Then    Colonel    Mapleson,    who  was   at  that 


g6         Prima  Donnas  ajid  Soubrettes 

time  managing  Adelina  Patti,  heard  her  sing 
and  advised  her  to  study  for  grand  opera. 
It  happened,  not  long  after,  that  the  contralto 
who  was  to  appear  as  Siebel  in  "  Faust "  with 
Patti  was  taken  ill.  There  was  no  substitute 
in  the  company,  and  Colonel  Mapleson  came 
to  Mrs.  Davis  in  a  great  state  of  mind.  It 
was  then  Saturday,  and  the  performance  of 
"  Faust  "  was  to  be  on  the  following  Monday. 
Her  teacher  coached  her  in  the  part  all  that 
day,  and  Saturday  night  was  spent  in  memor- 
izing the  words  and  music.  Sunday  was 
given  over  to  a  thorough  drill  in  the  custom- 
ary stage  business  of  Siebel's  part,  and  the 
memorable  Monday  night  found  the  aspirant 
ready,  but  fearful  and  trembling. 

*'  What  frightened  me  more  than  anything 
else,"  said  Mrs.  Davis,  "  was  the  romanza 
that  Siebel  sings  to  Marguerita.  I  was  so 
afraid  of  Patti,  whom  I  considered  a  vocal 
divinity,  that  I  finished  the  romanza  without 
having  dared  to  look  her  in  the  face.     You 


Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  97 

can  imagine  my  surprise,  therefore,  when 
she  took  my  face  in  her  hands  and  kissed  me 
on  both  cheeks.  Afterward  in  the  wings  she 
threw  her  arms  around  my  neck,  exclaiming : 
'  You  're  going  to  sing  in  grand  opera,  and 
I'm  going  to  help  you.'  Adelina  Patti's 
favor  and  influence  did  more  for  me  than 
two  years  of  hard  study.  There  were  only 
two  weeks  left  of  the  opera  season.  During 
that  time  I  appeared  twice  as  Siebel  in 
'Faust,'  and  once  as  the  shepherd  boy  in 
'  Dinorah.' " 

Colonel  Mapleson  evidently  thought  that 
he  had  made  a  find,  for  he  offered  to  send 
Mrs.  Davis  to  Italy,  to  give  her  three  years 
of  study  with  the  greatest  teachers  in  the 
world,  every  advantage  and  every  opportun- 
ity, in  short,  to  become  a  world-famous  sineer 
In  return  for  these  favors  Mrs.  Davis  was  to 
sing  under  Colonel  Mapleson's  direction  for 
three  years.  Personal  reasons  made  it  im- 
possible for  her  to  accept  this  offer,  however, 

7 


98         Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

though  she  did  not  give  up  the  idea  of  sing- 
ing in  grand  opera.  After  the  birth  of  her 
son,  Mrs.  Davis  studied  a  year  with  Madame 
LaGrange  in  Paris.  On  her  return  she  sang 
for  a  season  in  W.  T.  Carleton's  company. 
Her  principal  parts  were  the  drummer  boy 
in  "The  Drum  Major"  and  the  German  girl 
in  **  The  Merry  War."  The  next  season 
found  her  in  the  American  Opera  Company, 
which  included  Fursch-Nadi,  Emma  Juch, 
and  Pauline  L'AUemand,  with  Theodore 
Thomas  as  musical  conductor,  and  the  season 
following  that  she  was  with  the  reorganized 
National  Opera  Company. 

"  That  was  hard  work,"  remarked  Mrs, 
Davis,  "  all  for  no  money,  and  so  I  got  home 
to  Chicago,  tired,  sick,  and  discouraged,  and 
vowing  that  I  would  never  sing  in  public  as 
long  as  I  lived." 

"  But  you  changed  your  mind  ?  " 
"  Not  immediately.     While  I  was    resting 
in  Chicago  the  manager  of  The  Bostonians 


Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  99 

came  to  see  me  to  talk  "about  an  engagement. 
Agnes  Huntington  was  their  contralto,  but 
they  wanted  to  replace  her.  At  first  I  said 
'  No  ! '  point  blank.  I  thought  nothing  would 
induce  me  to  leave  the  comfort  and  seclusion 
of  my  home.  Then  the  manager  came  to 
see  me  again,  and  —  well,  woman-like  I 
changed  my  mind." 

During  her  first  seasons  with  The  Boston- 
ians,  Mrs.  Davis's  repertory  was  an  extensive 
one  and  comprised  the  Marchioness  in  "  Su- 
zette,"  Dorothea  in  ''  Don  Quixote,"  Cynisca  in 
"  Pygmalion  and  Galatea,"  Vladimir  Samoiloff 
in  "  Fatinitza,"  Siebel  in  "  Faust,"  Nancy  in 
"  Martha,"  Azucena  in  "  The  Troubadour," 
Carmen  in  **  Carmen,"  and  the  Queen  of  the 
Gipsies  in  "  The  Bohemian  Girl."  Her  great 
success  as  Alan-a-Dale  in  "  Robin  Hood," 
brought  out  at  the  Grand  Opera  House  in  Chi- 
cago on  June  9,  1890,  followed,  and  this  part 
kept  her  busy  for  several  seasons.  While 
The  Bostonians  were   on  their  long  hunt  — 


lOO        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

not  yet  finished,  I  believe  —  for  a  successor 
to  "  Robin  Hood,"  Mrs.  Davis  appeared  in 
''  The  Maid  of  Plymouth,"  "  In  Mexico,"  or, 
"A  War-time  Wedding,"  ''The  Knicker- 
bockers," "  Prince  Ananias,"  and  "  The  Sere- 
nade," with  its  beautiful  "  Song  of  the 
Angelus." 

I  think  it  was  in  1896  that  Mrs.  Davis  es- 
timated that  she  had  sung  ''  Oh,  Promise 
Me,"  that  popular  interpolated  song  in  "  Robin 
Hood,"  something  like  five  thousand  times. 
"  Robin  Hood  "  had  received  at  that  time 
2041  performances,  and  she  had  appeared 
in  it  all  but  twenty-five  or  thirty  of  them. 
"  Oh,  Promise  Me "  always  got  an  encore, 
and  often  a  double  encore,  which  brought 
the  number  up  to  Mrs.  Davis's  estimate. 

"  I  don't  tire  so  much  of  the  acting  of  a 
role  as  I  do  singing  the  same  words  and 
music  night  after  night,"  she  continued.  "  I 
sang  '  Oh,  Promise  Me '  until  I  thought  they 
ought  to  blow  paper  wads  at  me.     One  day 


Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  •'•,  lOi  ^ !',*';.'.  .<  ,, 

' '  • '- '  .'    ','  :\ ,'''; : 

in  Denver  I  said  to  our  conductor,  Sam 
Studley,  *  Sam,  I  'm  so  sick  of  "  Oh,  Promise 
Me  "  that  I  've  made  up  mind  to  sing  some- 
thing else.'  *  Jessie,'  he  said,  'I  don't  blame 
you !  *  So  it  was  agreed  that  on  the  follow- 
ing night  I  would  substitute  another  of 
DeKoven's  sentimental  songs.  But  they 
would  n't  have  it.  I  had  no  sooner  com- 
menced singing  it  than  there  were  shouts 
from  all  over  the  house  of  *  Oh,  Promise 
Me  ! '  'We  want  "  Oh,  Promise  Me  !  "  '  I 
managed  to  struggle  through  one  verse,  and 
then  ran  off  the  stage  laughing.  Then  Mr. 
Studley  struck  up  the  introductory  to  *  Oh, 
Promise  Me,'  and  I  went  back  and  satisfied 
the  audience  by  singing  their  favorite  ballad. 
It's  an  awful  fate  to  become  identified  with 
a  single  song. 

**  Being  a  singer  is  not  hke  being  an  actress. 
If  you  are  a  singer,  your  voice  must  be  your 
first  care.  An  actress,  if  she  gets  over-tired, 
can  go  on  and  spare  herself.     A  singer  can- 


702        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

not.  An  actress  can  use  less  voice  at  one 
time  than  at  another.  A  singer  cannot. 
Now,  over-fatigue,  excitement,  anxiety,  all 
affect  the  voice  by  which  the  singer  lives. 

"  I  had  my  grand  opera  experience.  I 
was  n't  very  happy  in  it,  although  I  had  good 
r61es  to  sing  —  once  in  a  while.  I  did  not 
know  how  to  protect  myself.  I  was  young 
then  and  too  good-natured.  I  confess  that 
while  the  work  in  grand  opera  was  more  to 
my  taste,  I  was  happier  in  light  opera,  and, 
after  all,  that  is  a  great  thing  in  the  world. 
Sometimes  I  used  ,to  sigh  for  more  serious 
work,  for  a  heavier  role,  and  in  that  way  *  In 
Mexico  *  came  to  pass.  I  used  to  say  some- 
times *  Oh,  I  wish  I  could  have  a  hard  part; 
I  am  tired  of  rigging  up  to  show  my  legs.  I 
want  something  to  do  that  is  hard  to  do.* 
So  when  ^  In  Mexico  '  was  read  they  said, 
'  Well,  here  's  Mrs.  Davis's  serious  part.'  " 

That  opera  was,  indeed,  very  serious,  so 
serious,   in  fact,  that  the  public  would  have 


Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  103 

nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  was  brought  out  in 
San  Francisco  on  October  28,  1895.  The 
music  was  by  Oscar  Weil  and  the  book  by 
C.  T.  Dazey,  the  author  of  the  popular  melo- 
drama "  In  Old  Kentucky." 


CHAPTER  IX 

EDNA  WALLACE  HOPPER 

A  CAPTIVATING  atom  of  femininity  was 
Edna  Wallace  when  she  succeeded  Delia 
Fox  as  the  soubrette  foil  to  the  DeWolf 
Hopper's  long-leggedness.  What  a  happy 
girlish  smile  she  had,  —  her  eyes  sparkled 
and  danced  so  merrily,  the  little  dimples  in 
her  cheeks  were  so  altogether  alluring !  Edna 
Wallace  Hopper  never  was  much  of  a  singer, 
but  she  was  so  pretty  and  so  delicate  that  one 
never  troubled  himself  about  her  voice;  he 
was  chiefly  concerned  lest  she  might  thought- 
lessly break  into  bits.  She  was  vivacity  itself, 
vivacity  that  never  seemed  noisy  nor  forced, 
just  the  spontaneous  expression  of  natural 
blithesomeness ;  and  her  magnetism  could 
not  be   escaped.      Although   she  could  not 


)    >   ,      1  J       >  5 

>         1     >  J      J     > 


Copyright,  iSqS.  by  B.  J.  Falk,  Waidcrf-Astoria,  N.  Y. 
EDNA    WALLACE  -  HOPPER. 


Edita    Wallace  Hopper  105 

sing,  she  could  act  in  her  soubrettish  way, 
for  her  little  experience  on  the  stage  had 
been  spent  with  plays  and  not  with  operas. 
The  art  of  the  soubrette  is  about  the  hardest 
thing  in  the  world  to  pin  down  for  examina- 
tion. In  fact,  in  many  cases,  the  word  "  art," 
in  connection  with  the  soubrette,  is  purely 
conventional ;  instinct  would  more  correctly 
describe  the  means  employed  by  her  to  gain 
her  stage  effects.  Dramatic  instinct  is,  of 
course,  the  corner-stone  of  the  actor's  mental 
equipment.  Indeed,  we  all  have  to  a  degree 
that  involuntary  notion  what  to  do  under 
certain  circumstances  —  wholly  unexpected 
circumstances  possibly — to  create  the  im- 
pression we  wish  to  make.  Preachers  have  it 
abundantly,  or  else  their  words  from  the  pulpit 
would  be  ineffective;  lawyers  are  also  ex- 
ceptionally endowed  with  it,  or  else  their 
addresses  to  the  jury  would  be  worse  than 
useless ;  teachers,  family  physicians,  the  man 
who    makes    politics   a   profession,    all    must 


io6       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

have  the  dramatic  instinct  to  win  any  great 
success. 

In  the  case  of  the  soubrette,  dramatic  in- 
stinct is  hmited  in  its  field.  She  does  not,  as  a 
general  thing,  attempt  impersonation,  and  she 
never  is  called  upon  to  do  anything  more  than 
slightly  ruffle  the  surface  of  emotional  possi- 
bilities by  a  faint  appeal  to  the  sentiments. 
Her  dramatic  instinct  is  chiefly  concerned  in 
presenting  to  the  best  advantage  an  attrac- 
tive personality  and  sparkling  temperament 
backed  up  by  a  pretty  face  and  a  pleasing 
figure.  Herein  lies  the  difficulty  of  writing 
about  soubrettes.  Having  called  them  happy, 
gay,  graceful,  altogether  charming,  one  finds 
that  he  has  nothing  more  to  say.  He  cannot 
talk  about  their  art,  for  their  art  is  merely 
themselves,  indefinable  and  impossible  of  de- 
scription. He  cannot  talk  about  the  characters 
they  have  played,  for  they  have  never  played 
but  one,  and  that  themselves.  Edna  Wallace 
Hopper's  Paquita  in  "  Panjandrum,"  for  ex- 


Edna   Wallace  Hopper  107 

ample,  was  none  other  than  her  Estrelda  in 
''  El  Capitan."  The  environment  was  different 
and  the  raiment  was  different,  but  the  char- 
acter was  the  same. 

Now  a  personality  cannot  be  put  on  paper ; 
it  cannot  be  talked  over  except  in  the  most 
superficial  and  unsatisfactory  way.  It  can 
only  be  felt.  When  one  has  declared  that  a 
certain  actor's  personality  is  unusually  attrac- 
tive, he  has  spoken  the  last  word.  Edna 
Wallace  Hopper,  in  common  with  all  other 
light  opera  soubrettes,  is  a  personality.  She 
is  there  to  be  liked  or  disliked  just  as  the 
notion  happens  to  strike  one;  but  whether 
one  likes  or  dislikes  her,  there  is  no  possible 
ground  for  an  argument  about  the  matter. 
This  person  here,  who  is  unmoved  by  her 
presence,  may  claim  that  she  cannot  sing  and 
that  she  is  wholly  artificial.  That  person 
there,  who  finds  her  altogether  delightful, 
will  declare  that  he  does  not  care  whether  she 
sings  or  not,  and  such  a  dainty  creature  is 


io8        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

she  that  her  frank  artificiality  is  a  positive 
delight. 

Personally  I  have  always  found  Edna  Wal- 
lace Hopper  exceptionally  entertaining.  I 
first  bowed  the  knee  before  her  smile  and 
her  coaxing  dimples  —  a  great  deal  of  Mrs. 
Hopper's  fascination  is  smiles  and  dimples  — 
when  she  was  very  new  to  the  stage,  and  I 
have  never  wholly  escaped  from  their  thral- 
dom since  that  time.  I  acknowledge  freely 
all  her  shortcomings,  —  her  lack  of  versatil- 
ity and  resourcefulness,  her  narrowness  of 
range,  —  but  as  long  as  she  keeps  her  smile 
and  her  dimples,  I  am  certain  that  I  shall 
never  be  absolutely  insensible  to  her  allure- 
ments. She  is  wholly  and  fixedly  a  soubrette, 
a  pretty,  dancing,  laughing  creature  without 
a  suggestion  of  seriousness  or  the  slightest 
trace  of  emotion.  She  is  not  to  be  studied, 
and  she  does  not  pretend  to  any  depth  of 
illusion.  She  is  an  impression,  to  be  admired 
or  scorned  always  in  the  present  tense. 


Edna    Wallace  Hopper  109 

Edna  Wallace  was  born  in  San  Francisco 
and  was  educated  at  the  Vanness  Seminary- 
there.  It  was  due  entirely  to  Roland  Reed, 
the  light  comedian,  that  the  idea  of  going  on 
the  stage  ever  entered  her  head.  Mr.  Reed 
met  Miss  Wallace  at  a  reception  while  he 
was  playing  in  San  Francisco  in  1891.  She 
was  then  not  far  from  seventeen  years  old. 
Impressed  with  her  vivacity,  he  laughingly 
offered  her  a  position  in  his  company,  and, 
behold !  the  mischief  was  done.  She  ac- 
cepted quickly ;  and  although  her  parents  did 
not  approve  of  the  plan  in  the  least,  she 
journeyed  east  during  the  summer,  and  in 
August  made  her  appearance  at  the  Boston 
Museum  with  Mr.  Reed  as  Mabel  Douglass 
in  ''The  Club  Friend." 

Two  weeks  later  she  acted  in  the  same  play 
at  the  Star  Theatre  in  New  York,  where  six 
weeks  later  she  was  given  the  leading  ingenue 
role  in  ''  Lend  Me  Your  Wife."  She  attracted 
the  attention  of  Charles  Frohman,  and  was 


no       Prima  Donnas  a7id  Soubrettes 

engaged  by  him,  appearing  successively  as 
Lucy  Mortan  in  "Jane,"  Mrs.  Patterby  in 
''  Chums,"  Margery  in  ''  Men  and  Women  " 
and  as  Wilbur's  Ann,  the  boisterous  frontier 
maiden,  in  ''  The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me." 

It  was  while  she  was  acting  in  this  play  in 
June,  1893,  that  she  was  married  to  DeWolf 
Hopper.  A  few  weeks  after  this,  Delia  Fox, 
the  Paquita  in  ''  Panjandrum,"  was  taken 
suddenly  ill  and  journeyed  off  to  Europe. 
Mrs.  Hopper  jumped  into  the  part  and  played 
it  successfully  until  the  end  of  the  New  York 
season.  The  following  comment  on  Mrs. 
Hopper  shortly  after  her  first  appearance  in 
light  opera  is  interesting :  — 

"  A  winsome  little  woman  recently  bounded 
into  the  affectionate  regard  of  New  York 
audiences  at  the  Broadway  Theatre.  The 
severely  critical  may  take  occasion  to  com- 
pare her  with  her  predecessor  as  Paquita  in 
*  Panjandrum,'  —  possibly  to  her  disadvantage 
in  some  instances,  —  but  the  fact  still  remains 


Edna   Wallace  Hopper  in 

that  the  audiences  like  her  immensely,  be- 
cause she  is  young,  pretty,  modest,  and  be- 
cause she  can  act.  Edna  Wallace  Hopper,  if 
not  able  to  sing  quite  as  well  as  some  comic 
opera  performers,  is  a  capable  actress,  and  in 
this  respect  her  advancement  has  been  some- 
what remarkable." 

In  the  fall  Mrs.  Hopper  returned  to  Charles 
Frohman's    management,    but   she    was    not 
long  after  released  from  her  contract  so  that 
she  could  assume  the  part  of  Merope  Mallow 
in    DeWolf  Hopper's    production    of    "  Dr. 
Syntax."     This  was  a  decidedly  attractive  bit 
of  work  natural   and   artistic.     On  the  road 
she  also  assumed  Delia  Fox's  old  character  of 
Mataya   in  ^*  Wang."     When  ^' El  Capitan  " 
was  produced  in  Boston  in  April,   1896,  she 
created  the   part  of  Estrelda,   the  hero-wor- 
shipping coquette,  her  first  original  role,  by 
the  way,  in  opera,  for  her  character  in  "  Dr. 
Syntax  "  was   taken    directly   from  a  similar 
conception  in  ''  Cinderella  at  School."     This 


112        Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

was  her  last  role  with  the  Hopper  organiza- 
tion, for  while  it  was  still  a  popular  attraction, 
domestic  difficulties  separated  her  from  Mr. 
Hopper,  and  she  retired  from  the  company  at 
the  expiration  of  her  contract  with  Ben 
Stevens,  the  manager. 

Mrs.  Hopper  next  appeared  in  "  Yankee 
Doodle  Dandy,"  an  extravaganza  of  doubtful 
merit,  and  with  Lillian  Russell  in  a  revival  of 
*'  La  Belle  Helene."  During  the  season  of 
1899-1900,  she  shared  the  honors  with  Jerome 
Sykes  in  the  extravaganza,  *'  Chris  and  the 
Wonderful  Lamp,''  acting  the  part  of  the 
sophisticated   youth    Chris. 


>   »     > » 


PAULA    EDWARDES. 


CHAPTER  X 

PAULA    EDWARDES 

One  of  the  few  young  and  pretty  women 
making  a  specialty  of  eccentric  comedy  parts 
is  Paula  Edwardes,  a  Boston  girl,  who,  starting 
at  the  foot  of  the  ladder  only  a  few  seasons 
ago,  has  quickly  claimed  a  position  of  promi- 
nence in  the  musical  comedy  world.  Miss 
Edwardes's  most  recent  characterizations  have 
been  two  different  varieties  of  the  Cockney 
type  in  "  A  Runaway  Girl "  and  **  Mam'- 
selle  'Awkins,"  but  previous  to  that  she  gave 
a  taste  of  her  ability  in  this  line  of  impersona- 
tion by  creating  in  '*  The  Belle  of  New  York" 
the  role  of  Mamie  Clancy,  the  Bowery  girl,  a 
type  of  character  which  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  an  Americanized  Cockney.  I  have 
no  idea  where  Miss  Edwardes  picked  up  her 

weird  and  wonderful  Cockney  dialect,  unless 

8 


114       Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

she  got  it  during  her  short  visit  in  London  with 
"  The  Belle,"  for  she  was  born  and  brought 
up  in  Boston,  where,  as  every  one  knows, 
nothing  is  spoken  except  the  purest  of  Emer- 
sonian English.  Neither  will  I  vouch  for  the 
accuracy  of  Miss  Edwardes's  importation. 
However,  it  sounds  English  enough,  and  it  is 
certainly  hard  enough  to  understand  to  be 
the  real  thing. 

There  are  two  ways  of  presenting  a  char- 
acter study  of  the  uncultivated  types  of  civil- 
ized humanity.  One  is  faithfully  to  imitate 
the  original,  sparing' not  in  the  least  vulgarity, 
uncouthness,  and  coarseness.  The  comedy  in 
this  method  is  the  crude  product  of  incon- 
gruity and  contrast.  The  second  method  is 
merely  to  retain  a  recognizable  likeness  to  the 
original,  to  tone  down  the  vulgarity,  to  reduce 
the  uncouthness  to  a  suggestion,  and  to  rely 
for  effect  on  an  heightened  sense  of  humor. 
There  is  also  introduced  in  this  second  method 
of  treatment  a   subtle,  but  nevertheless  dis- 


Paula  Edwardes  115 

tinct,  self-appreciation  of  one's  own  unfitness 
for  polite  society  and  social  conventions,  —  a 
cynical  atmosphere,  as  it  were,  that  gives  the 
study  a  touch  of  satire. 

The  first  method  is  usually  adopted  by  the 
unpolished  and  unthinking  actor  of  variety 
sketch  training,  and  often,  too,  by  the  acro- 
batic and  strictly  mechanical  comedian  of 
light  opera  surroundings.  It  is  comedy  acting 
which  proves  vastly  amusing  to  such  as  desire 
their  theatrical  entertainment  as  devoid  as 
possible  of  any  intellectual  flavor,  who  do  not 
care  to  hunt  for  a  fine  point,  and  who  are 
bored  by  anything  that  suggests  an  intelligent 
appreciation  of  humor.  The  comedy  of  the 
second  method  is  on  a  decidedly  higher 
plane.  It  suggests  more  than  it  actually 
represents.  It  is  more  delicate  in  every  way, 
and  it  requires  a  modicum  of  intelligence  on 
the  part  of  the  spectator  to  be  estimated  at 
its  full  value. 

Miss  Edwardes's  Carmenita  in  "  A  Runa- 


Ii6       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

way  Girl "  was  a  genuine  characterization. 
She  did  more  than  to  array  herself  in  gar- 
ments of  curious  pattern,  stain  her  face  a 
gypsy  tan  and  talk  a  Blackfriars-ish,  or  alleged 
Blackfriars-ish  dialect,  that  was  wellnigh  in- 
comprehensible; she  also  imparted  an  indi- 
viduality to  the  role,  and  one  got  from  her 
acting  a  distinct  impression  of  Carmenita,  the 
woman.  Such  was  the  case,  too,  with  her 
Honorah  in  *'  Mam'selle  'Awkins."  She 
evolved,  from  the  precious  little  material  that 
was  given  her,  a  personahty.  Josephine  Hall, 
on  the  other  hand,  let  the  character  go  com- 
pletely by  the  board,  and  relied  entirely  for 
success  on  her  ability  as  an  entertainer.  I 
will  not  say  which  achieved  the  better  re- 
sults in  this  particular  instance,  for  the 
entertainment  in  which  they  appeared  was 
too  absurd  to  be  considered  seriously  even 
as  an  absurdity.  Miss  Edwardes,  however, 
adopted  the  more  artistic  treatment  of  the 
two. 


Paula  Edwardes  117 

Paula  Edwardes  went  into  the  theatrical 
business  on  the  strength  of  a  voice,  a  face, 
and  a  figure,  which  is  simply  another  way 
of  saying  that  she  began  in  the  chorus.  It 
happened  in  Boston,  and  the  occasion  was 
the  professional  production  by  Thomas  Q. 
Seabrooke  of  the  First  Corps  of  Cadets'  extra- 
vaganza, "  Tobasco."  Miss  Edwardes  was 
understudy  for  Elvia  Crox,  the  leading  sou- 
brette,  and  a  little  luck  came  the  chorus  girl's 
way  at  the  first  matinee.  Miss  Crox  declared 
that  she  was  too  ill  to  play,  and  Miss  Edwardes 
took  her  part  for  the  afternoon,  succeeding 
so  well  that  Miss  Crox  rapidly  recovered  her 
health  and  was  able  to  appear  at  the  evening 
performance. 

Nevertheless,  the  next  season  still  found 
Miss  Edwardes  in  the  chorus,  this  time  with 
Hoyt's  "  A  Black  Sheep."  Again  Boston  was 
good  to  her,  for  when  the  company  reached 
that  city,  Bettina  Gerard,  who  was  playing 
the  Queen  of  Burlesque,  was  affected  by  the 


I T  8        Prwia  Dcmnas  mid  Soubrcttes 

climate  or  something  of  that  kind,  threw  up 
her  part,  and  Miss  Edwardes  was  pressed 
into  service  in  the  emergency.  Her  success 
was  sufficient  to  put  an  end  for  good  and  all 
to  her  chorus  experience.  The  following 
season  Miss  Edwardes  was  in  "  A  Dangerous 
Maid  "  with  Laura  Burt  and  Madge  Lessing, 
and  then  she  created  the  part  of  Mamie 
Clancy  in  'H^he  Belle  of  New  York."  She 
went  to  London  with  the  original  company, 
but  after  a  few  months  she  became  tired  of 
the  fog  and  homesick  for  New  York  and  the 
familiar  surroundings  of  Broadway  and  the 
Rialto.  So  she  resigned  from  "  The  Belle  " 
cast  and  took  the  next  steamer  for  the  United 
States.  Augustin  Daly  engaged  her  for 
Carmenita  in  "  A  Runaway  Girl,"  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  run  of  that  piece  in  New 
York  she  was  transferred  to  *'  The  Great 
Ruby "  in  which  she  made  quite  a  hit  as 
Louise  Jupp,  the  romantically  inclined  hotel 
cashier. 


Paula  Edwardes  119 

In  February,  1900,  she  appeared  in 
"  Mam'selle  'Awkins,"  creating  the  title 
role,  and  after  that  she  acted  in  Boston 
and  New  York  her  old  part  of  Carmenita 
in  ''A  Runaway  Girl." 


CHAPTER  XI 

LULU   GLASER 

A  VERY  few  years  ago  Lulu  Glaser  was 
known  only  as  "  Francis  Wilson's  new  sou- 
brette."  That  continued  for  several  seasons 
after  she  succeeded  the  fascinating  Marie 
Jansen,  —  she  of  the  rippling  laugh  and  the 
form  of  inscrutable  perfection.  Lulu  Glaser 
was  a  bright,  sparkling  girl  in  those  days  of 
her  earlier  successes,  winsome  in  personality 
and  as  pretty  as  a  picture  with  her  light 
fluffy  hair  and  her  eyes  that  still  retained 
their  girlishness.  Her  vivacity  was  remark- 
able, and  her  spirits  were  unflagging.  She 
worked  with  all  her  might  to  please,  and  she 
was  successful  to  an  unusual  degree. 

Too   bad   that  those  excellent  qualities  — 
vivacity,  freshness,  and  unsophisticated  youth- 


LULU    GLASER. 


#J    o 


Lulu  G laser  121 

fulness  —  should  have  so  nearly  proved  her 
undoing!  Too  much  kindness  on  the  part 
of  those  who  wished  her  only  the  utmost 
good,  indiscriminate  praise  and  the  conven- 
tional applausive  audience,  together  with  as- 
sociation with  Francis  Wilson,  an  excellent 
comedian  in  his  own  line,  but  not  a  player 
who  will  bear  imitation,  have  brought  Miss 
Glaser  to  a  most  critical  period  in  her  career. 
Her  personal  popularity,  it  is  true,  has  not 
suffered  as  yet,  —  at  least,  not  to  any  appre- 
ciable extent,  —  but  her  reputation  as  an 
artist  is  already  on  the  wane  among  discrim- 
inating judges.  She  should  rank  with  the 
very  best  of  our  Hght  opera  soubrettes,  but 
it  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  she  does. 

Miss  Glaser's  utter  lack  of  any  notion  of 
the  inherent  fitness  of  things  and  of  her  own 
position  as  a  paid  entertainer  is  shown  most 
conspicuously  and  most  persistently  in  her 
exasperating  habit  of  "  guying "  every  per- 
formance in  which  she  participates.     Here  is 


122        Prima  Domias  and  Soubrettes 

a  young  woman  of  unquestioned  talent  both 
as  an  actress  and  a  singer,  bound  down  hill 
simply  ^and  solely  for  the  want  of  restrain- 
ing good  sense  and  proper  discipline.  She 
is  much  in  need  of  the  fatherly  advice  of  a 
hard-headed  stage  manager,  who  would  curb 
that  vivacity  which  has  run  riot  and  squelch 
effectively  a  condition  of  cocksureness  that 
is  amazing  in  its  effrontery.  The  trick  of 
**  guying "  may  seem  to  those  on  the  stage 
very  pretty  and  highly  amusing,  but  to  an 
audience  it  is  at  first  surprising,  then  bewil- 
dering, and  finally  utterly  wearisome  and 
disgusting. 

The  actor,  who  systematically  makes  sport 
on  the  stage  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow- 
players  instead  of  attending  to  his  own  busi- 
ness of  amusing  those  who  have  paid  their 
money  for  entertainment,  commits  a  breach 
of  artistic  etiquette  that  is  wholly  inexcus- 
able. The  stage  is  a  dangerous  place  for 
one  to  give   free  rein  to  personal  adoration. 


Ltilu  G laser  123 

I  have  known  actors  who  were  free  from  con- 
ceit and  complete  self-satisfaction,  but  they 
are  comparatively  few.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, this  generous  estimate  of  one's  own  at- 
tainments does  not  often,  as  in  Miss  Glaser's 
case,  intrude  itself  into  the  actor's  art.  Still, 
is  her  condition  of  mind  to  be  wondered  at? 
She  was  only  a  girl  when  she  began  to  be  the 
subject  of  kindly  notoriety.  She  was  praised, 
praised,  praised,  and,  worst  of  all,  she  was 
without  the  restraining  influence  of  a  strict 
disciplinarian. 

From  desiring  above  all  else  to  please  her 
audience,  and  with  that  end  in  view,  giving 
lavishly  on  every  occasion  the  very  best  that 
was  in  her,  she  developed  a  frame  of  mind  that 
conceived  her  position  to  be  directly  opposite 
to  what  it  really  was.  She  began  to  feel  that 
the  favor  was  on  her  side,  —  that  her  audi- 
ence should  be  grateful  to  her  for  taking  part 
in  the  show.  She  acquired  an  atmosphere 
of  condescension  and  patronage  which  would 


124       Prima  Donnas  a^id  Sonbrettes 

have  been  ridiculous  if  it  had  not  been  so 
provoking.  This  curious  attitude  was  notice- 
able to  a  considerable  extent  in  "  The  Little 
Corporal ;  "  but  it  could  be  endured  there, 
for  **  The  Little  Corporal "  was,  in  compari- 
son with  the  average,  an  opera  not  altogether 
without  merit.  In  *'  Cyrano  de  Bergerac," 
however,  that  wretched  misconception.  Miss 
Glaser's  egotism  bloomed  forth  in  an  aston- 
ishing fashion.  She  was  almost  below  the 
sphere  of  serious  attention. 

It  is  painful  to  speak  so  harshly  of  a  woman 
naturally  so  charming  as  Miss  Glaser,  whom 
I  would  be  only  too  glad  to  eulogize  in  rain- 
bow-hued  words.  I  confess  that  I  like  her, 
but  that  is  my  weakness.  Indeed,  if  I  did 
not  like  her,  and  if  I  were  not  convinced  of 
her  genuine  ability,  I  should  not  distress  my- 
self to  the  extent  of  being  honest  with  her. 
Sometimes  I  have  even  thought  that  she  had 
a  sense  of  humor  until  her  persistent  '^  guy- 
ing "   knocked    the   notion   out  of  my  head. 


Lulu  G laser  125 

"  Guying  "  does  not  signify  a  sense  of  humor. 
A  sense  of  humor  includes,  besides  the  ability 
to  comprehend  a  joke  in  a  minstrel  show,  a 
saving  appreciation  of  the  ridiculous  in  one's 
self  as  well  as  in  humanity  at  large.  This 
quality  of  looking  at  one's  self  from  the  view- 
point of  some  one  else  is  rare  in  man,  but 
it  is  still  rarer  in  woman.  Woman,  however, 
is  more  expert  than  man  at  "  faking  "  a  sense 
of  humor. 

When  Miss  Glaser  really  gets  down  to  busi- 
ness and  makes  fun  wholly  for  her  audience, 
she  is  a  most  entertaining  little  woman.  Her 
talent  for  burlesque  is  unmistakable,  although 
her  characters  do  not  always  have  the  at- 
mosphere of  spontaneityo  Her  whole  expe- 
rience having  been  with  Francis  Wilson,  it  is 
not  strange,  perhaps,  that  she  should  have 
adopted  some  of  his  methods.  A  comic 
opera  comedian,  whose  humor  is  so  much  a 
matter  of  individuality,  is  the  last  person  in 
the   world    to   be    imitated.     In    many   cases 


126       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

he  is  an  acquired  taste,  and  almost  always 
he  is  only  conventional,  trading  on  a  trick  of 
personality. 

Lulu  Glaser  was  born  In  Allegheny  City, 
Pennsylvania,  on  June  2,  1874,  and  continued 
to  live  there  until  she  joined  Francis  Wilson's 
company  in  1892. 

"  I  surely  inherited  no  longing  for  the 
stage,"  once  remarked  Miss  Glaser,  *^  for  none 
of  my  family  ever  had  any  professional  con- 
nection with  the  theatre.  I  just  had  a  pas- 
sionate longing  to  sing.  I  talked  of  it 
incessantly,  and  finally  father  said  to  mother : 
*  Let  her  try  it ;  she  will  never  be  satisfied 
until  she  does.  You  go  with  her  to  New 
York,  and  we  shall  see  what  comes  of  it.* 
So  to  New  York  my  mother  and  I  went, 
and  through  a  friend  who  knew  somebody 
else  who  knew  Francis  Wilson's  leader  of  the 
orchestra,  I  got  an  introduction  to  this  all- 
important  personage. 

"  Well,  I  think  it  was  all  of  a  month  we  had 


Lulu  G laser  127 

to  wait  before  the  interview  could  be  ar- 
ranged, and  then  one  eventful  day  I  sang 
for  Mr.  de  Novellis  on  the  stage  of  the  Broad- 
way Theatre.  No,  strangely  enough,  I  was  n't 
nervous  in  the  least.  The  song,  I  remember, 
was  *  My  Lady's  Bower ;  '  and  when  I  had 
finished  it,  Mr.  de  Novellis  said  that  he  would 
suggest  that  I  should  see  Mr.  Wilson,  —  *  the 
great  Wilson,'  as  I  described  him  in  a  letter 
to  my  father  after  the  first  interview.  The 
company  was  to  produce  *  The  Lion  Tamer,' 
and  Mr.  Wilson  made  me  understudy  to  Miss 
Marie  Jansen,  meantime  giving  me  a  place  in 
the  chorus. 

"  My  chance  to  sing  alone  came  sooner 
than  I  anticipated,  before  I  was  ready  for  it, 
evidently,  because  on  the  night  when  Miss 
Jansen  fell  ill,  and  I  was  to  take  her  place,  I 
fainted  before  the  curtain  went  up.  But  I 
was  not  discouraged.  *  She  is  sure  to  do 
splendidly  now,'  said  Mr.  Wilson,  when  he 
heard   of  that   faint.      A    few  months  later, 


128        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

Miss  Jansen  resigned  to  become  a  star,  and 
Mr.  Wilson  informed  me,  while  I  was  still  in 
the  chorus,  that  I  was  to  have  her  place. 
And  he  regarded  it  as  the  greatest  achieve- 
ment of  my  life,  that  for  the  remaining  weeks 
of  the  season  I  never  told  a  soul  of  what  was 
in  store  for  me." 

During  her  first  season  Miss  Glaser  played, 
besides  Angelina  in  *'  The  Lion  Tamer," 
Lazuli  in  "  The  Merry  Monarch."  Then  she 
tried  Javotte  in  '*  Erminie,"  which  perform- 
ance added  greatly  to  her  reputation.  It  is 
perhaps,  the  best  thing  that  she  has  ever  done, 
and  certainly  bears  comparison  with  the  work 
of  other  soubrettes  in  the  part.  Her  next 
role  was  that  of  Elverine  in  **  The  Devil's 
Deputy,"  and  from  this  came  still  more 
praise.  The  rather  sedate  —  for  a  soubrette 
—  character  of  Rita  in  "The  Chieftain"  was 
her  next  exploit.  This  was  what  might  be 
termed  a  "  straight "  part,  and  was  only  given 
to    Miss    Glaser    after   two    other    roles    had 


Lulu  G laser  129 

been  assigned  to  her.  "The  Chieftain" 
was  produced  in  the  fall  of  1895.  When 
Mr.  Wilson  secured  the  opera  the  previous 
spring,  he  told  Miss  Glaser  that  she  was  to 
play  Dolly. 

*'  Very  well,"  said  she,  not  in  the  least  sur- 
prised, for  the  role  was  precisely  in  her  line. 
But  she  had  scarcely  begun  to  plan  her  con- 
ception of  the  character  when  somebody  dis- 
covered that  Dolly  appeared  only  in  the 
second  and  last  acts. 

*'  That  will  never  do,  you  know,"  said  Mr. 
Wilson.  "  I  tell  you  what  we  will  do,  you 
must  be  Juanita,  the  dancing  girl.  That  is 
the  soubrette  part,  after  all." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Miss  Glaser  again,  with 
perfect  confidence  that  she  would  be  cast  to 
the  best  advantage,  whatever  happened. 

The  season  ended.  Miss  Glaser  went  with 
her  mother  to  their  summer  home  at 
Sewickley,  just  out  of  Pittsburg,  and  Mr.  Wil- 
son   sailed     for    Europe.       He    saw    "  The 

9 


130        Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

Chieftain "  in  London,  and  at  once  sent  a 
cablegram  to  Sewickley :  "  You  are  to  play 
Rita."  This  was  indeed  a  surprise  to  Miss 
Glaser,  —  to  be  the  dignified  prima  donna  of 
the  house  bill!  It  almost  took  her  breath 
away. 

"Do  you  think  I  can  do  it?"  she  asked 
Mr.  Wilson,  when  he  returned. 

"  I  will  stake  my  reputation  on  it,"  was  the 
prompt  reply. 

So  when  Sullivan's  opera  was  produced  at 
Abbey's  Theatre  in  New  York  in  September, 
the  public  and  the  critics  declared  that  Mr. 
Wilson's  leading  woman  was  as  strong  in  the 
"  straight  "  parts  as  she  had  proved  herself 
to  be  in  the  lighter  lines  in  which  she  had 
first  won  her  reputation. 

"But,  oh,  wasn't  I  nervous  that  first 
night !  "  confessed  Miss  Glaser.  "  And 
did  n't  I  pick  up  the  papers  the  next 
morning    with    fear    and    trembling !  " 

Miss  Glaser,  before  the  run  of  the  opera 


Ltihi  G laser  131 

was  over,  however,  found  her  part  in  "  The 
Chieftain "  somewhat  hampering,  and  she 
was  pleased  enough  when  Pierrette  in  "  Half 
a  King  "  placed  her  back  in  the  ranks  of  the 
joyous  and  captivating  soubrettes.  Light- 
hearted,  too,  was  her  part  in  "The  Little 
Corporal,"  a  role  which  travelled  all  the  way 
from  the  long  skirts  of  a  court  lady  to  the  not 
too  tight  trousers  of  a  drummer  boy  in  the 
French  army. 

In  *'  The  Little  Corporal  "  one  could  not 
help  but  notice  how  great  an  influence  Mr. 
Wilson's  clowning  methods  had  exercised 
on  Miss  Glaser.  Mr.  Wilson,  however,  was 
artistic  in  his  fooling,  and  was  not  given 
to  overdoing  the  thing,  which  was  not 
strange,  for  he  had  been  at  it  a  good  many 
years. 

Miss  Glaser  especially  worked  to  the  hmit 
the  old  "  gag  "  popular  with  variety  *'  artists," 
of  laughing  at  the  jokes  on  the  stage  as  if 
they  were   impromptu  affairs  gotten  up  for 


132        Prima  Donnas  and  Sonbrettes 

her  especial  benefit.  She  did  it  rather  well, 
although  she  did  it  too  much.  Perhaps 
because  the  jokes  were  funny  and  one 
laughed  at  them  himself,  one  liked  to  think 
that  Miss  Glaser  —  some  time  before,  of 
course  —  did  see  something  funny  in  Mr. 
Wilson's  remarks,  and  that  she  laughed  at 
them  now  because  she  remembered  how  she 
had  laughed  at  them  at  first.  Marie  Jansen 
used  to  laugh,  too,  when  she  was  with  Mr. 
Wilson,  and  her  laugh  was  a  wonderful 
achievement,  — -  a  thing  of  ripples,  quavers,  and 
gurgles.  And  this  coincidence  suggests  a 
horrible  thought.  Possibly  Mr.  Wilson  him- 
self was  to  blame  for  these  laughs.  Pos- 
sibly he  stipulated  in  the  bond  that  his 
soubrettes  should  laugh  early  and  often  at 
his  jokes  as  a  cue  to  the  audience.  In 
the  early  scenes  of  "  The  Little  Corporal," 
regardless  of  laughs  and  all  else,  Miss 
Glaser  was  captivating,  and  her  first  song  — 
it  was  something  about  a  coquette,  as  I  re- 


Lttlu  G laser  133 

call   it  —  was    a    fetching  bit   of  descriptive 
singing. 

During  the  season  of  1899- 1900,  Miss 
Glaser  played  Roxane  in  '*  Cyrano  de  Ber- 
gerac,"  and  Javotte  in  "  Erminie." 


CHAPTER   XII 

MINNIE   ASHLEY 

Artless  girlishness,  remarkable  personal 
charm,  and  skill  as  an  imaginative  dancer 
scarcely  equalled  on  the  American  stage, 
account  for  Minnie  Ashley's  sudden  success 
in  musical  comedy.  Aside  from  her  dancing, 
which  is  artistic  in  every  sense,  she  is  by 
no  means  an  exceptionally  talented  young 
woman.  Nature  was  indeed  good  to  her 
when  it  endowed  her  with  a  most  fascinating 
personality,  a  pretty,  piquant  face,  and  a 
slim,  graceful  figure,  but  it  was  by  no  means 
lavish  with  other  gifts  most  desirable.  Miss 
Ashley's  range  as  an  actress  is  decidedly 
limited ;  she  is  not  to  the  slightest  degree 
versatile,  and  she  has  no  notion  at  all  of  the 
art  of  impersonation.     Her  singing  voice  is 


MINNIE    ASHLEY. 


Minnie  Ashley  135 

more  of  an  imagination  than  a  reality,  al- 
though one  is  sometimes  deceived  into  be- 
lieving that  she  can  sing  in  a  modest  way  by 
the  admirable  skill  with  which  she  uses  the 
little  voice  that  is  hers.  She  has  a  due  re- 
gard for  its  limitations,  and  she  delights  one 
by  the  clearness  of  her  enunciation  and  the 
expressive  daintiness  of  her  interpretation  of 
the  simple  ballads  that  show  her  at  her  best. 

Nothing  could  be  more  exquisitely  charm- 
ing than  her  art  in  such  songs  as  *'  The 
Monkey  on  the  Stick  "  and  "  The  Parrot  and 
the  Canary"  in  "The  Geisha,"  "A  Little 
Bit  of  String"  in  "The  Circus  Girl,"  and 
"  I'm  a  Dear  Little  Iris "  and  "  This  Naughty 
Little  Maid  "  in  "  A  Greek  Slave."  These 
songs  are  all  of  the  same  class,  —  little  humor- 
ous narratives,  or,  better  yet,  funny  stories 
set  to  music.  Miss  Ashley  seems  almost  to 
recite  them,  so  perfectly  understandable  is 
every  word,  yet  she  keeps  to  the  tune  at 
the    same    time.     Not    a    point  in  the   story 


136       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

is  overlooked,  and  every  phase  of  meaning 
is  captivatingly  illustrated  in  pantomime. 
Miss  Ashley's  pantomime,  like  her  acting,  is 
limited  in  quantity;  so  limited,  in  fact,  that 
it  suggests,  after  one  becomes  familiar  with 
it,  the  fear  that  it  is  all  mannerism.  Even  at 
that,  I  doubt  if  any  one  can  escape  its  per- 
suasive appeal,  can  remain  absolutely  cold 
and  unresponsive  before  those  eyes  so  full  of 
roguish  innocence,  those  lips  smiling  a  chal- 
lenge, and  that  pretty  bobbing  head  shaking 
a  negative  that  means  yes. 

However,  if  he  be  unmoved  by  Miss  Ash- 
ley's singing,  he  surely  cannot  resist  her 
dancing.  It  is  as  an  illustrative  dancer  that 
Miss  Ashley  is  supreme.  She  is  the  one 
woman  who  comprehends  dancing  as  some- 
thing more  than  violent  physical  exercise, 
who  appreciates  the  art  of  dancing  in  its 
classic  sense  as  a  means  of  symbolic  and 
poetic  expression.  Minnie  Ashley  dances 
with  her  whole  body  moving  in  perfect  unity 


Minnie  Ashley  137 

and  in  perfect  rhythm.  She  is  the  personifi- 
cation of  grace  from  head  to  foot,  and  there 
is  vivacity  and  joy  and  fulness  of  life  in  the 
saucy  noddings  of  her  head,  the  languorous 
sway  of  her  form,  the  sinuous  wavings  of  her 
arms  and  hands,  and  the  bewildering  min- 
gling of  billowy  draperies  and  flashy,  twink- 
ling feet.  When  Minnie  Ashley  kicks,  she 
does  so  delicately  and  deliberately, — kicks 
that  end  with  a  shiver  and  quiver  of  the 
toe-tips. 

It  has  been  Miss  Ashley's  good  fortune  in 
most  of  her  parts  to  be  permitted  to  dance  in 
long  skirts.  As  Gwendolyn  in  "■  Prince  Pro 
Tem,"  however,  she  wore  the  conventional 
soubrette  skirt  of  knee  length.  It  was  sur- 
prising what  a  handicap  it  was  to  the  full 
effectiveness  of  her  dancing.  Miss  Ashley  is 
not  a  whirlwind  dancer;  she  does  not  sacri- 
fice grace  for  speed,  nor  dignity  for  astound- 
ing contortions  of  the  body.  Knowing  full 
well  the  value  of  the  artistic  repose  and  the 


138        Prima  Donnas  and  Sotibrettes 

crowning  fascination  of  suggestion,  she  han- 
dles her  draperies  with  that  rare  skill  which 
makes  them  seem  a  part  of  herself.  Their 
sweeping  softness  destroys  all  crude  out- 
lines, and  they  are  at  the  same  time  tantaliz- 
ing provokers  of  curiosity.  The  short  skirt 
—  blunt,  plain-spoken,  and  tactless  —  com- 
pelled the  substitution  of  abandon  for  sen- 
suousness,  and  consequently  a  sacrifice  of 
coquetry  and  suggestiveness. 

Minnie  Ashley  was  born  in  Fall  River, 
Massachusetts,  in  1875.  Her  family  name 
was  Whitehead.  When  she  was  very  young 
her  father  and  mother  separated,  her  mother 
going  to  Boston  and  taking  Minnie  with  her. 
The  mother  afterward  was  married  to  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Ashley,  and  it  was  as  Minnie 
Ashley  that  the  dainty  actress  was  always 
known  during  her  girlhood  in  Boston.  She 
lived  and  went  to  school  both  in  Roxbury 
and  the  South  End ;  and  she  learned  her  first 
dancing  steps,  as  thousands  of  city  children 


Mimiie  Ashley  139 

do,  by  tripping  away  on  the  sidewalk  to  the 
grinding  music  of  the  hand-organ. 

Her  first  appearances  in  public  were  made 
at  the  children's  festivals  on  Washington's 
birthday  in  the  old  Music  Hall,  Boston.  The 
first  year  she  was  the  Queen  of  the  Fairies 
with  a  number  of  other  school-children  as 
subjects ;  and  the  next  year,  after  demon- 
strating that  she  could  dance,  she  was  pro- 
moted to  the  position  of  solo  dancer,  and  a 
feature  of  the  entertainment  was  her  exposi- 
tion of  the  intricacies  of  "  The  Sailor's  Horn- 
pipe." Her  native  talent,  so  prettily  shown 
at  these  children's  festivals,  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  a  teacher  of  dancing,  who  took 
Miss  Minnie  under  her  charge  and  gave  the 
child  the  instruction  that  was  necessary  to 
develop  her  gifts  to  the  best  advantage. 

During  the  summer  the  teacher  took  her 
promising  pupil  to  the  summer  resorts  in  the 
White  Mountains.  There  the  guests  were 
charmed,  and  the  boys  and  girls  of  ambitious 


140       Prima  Donnas  a7id  Soubrettes 

parents  were  instructed  in  the  art  Terpsicho- 
rean.  This  lasted  until  Miss  Minnie  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  she  was  doing  all  the 
work  while  her  companion  was  reaping  most 
of  the  profits.  So  they  quarrelled  about  it 
and  separated,  Miss  Ashley  returning  to  Bos- 
ton firmly  resolved  to  go  upon  the  stage  as 
a  professional  dancer. 

At  that  time  Edward  E.  Rice  was  organ- 
izing a  company  to  produce  the  R.  A.  Barnet 
spectacle,  "  1492,"  and  to  him  Miss  Ashley 
applied.  She  succeeded  in  getting  a  place  in 
the  chorus.  When  DeWolf  Hopper  brought 
out  "  El  Capitan  "  in  Boston  in  1896,  she  was 
still  in  the  chorus,  although  she  was  permitted 
to  understudy  Edna  Wallace  Hopper.  Miss 
Ashley,  however,  had  developed  since  the 
days  of"  1492,"  and  although  she  was  in  the 
chorus,  she  was  by  no  means  of  the  chorus. 
Her  individuality  was  so  pronounced,  her 
magnetism  so  potent,  that  the  largest  chorus 
could    not  conceal  her.     She  literally   stood 


Minnie  Ashley  141 

forth  from  the  group,  a  graceful  and  beauti- 
ful figure,  animated,  interesting,  and  pertly 
captivating.  She  had  something  of  the  spirit 
of  France  about  her,  or  at  least  what  we 
think  is  the  spirit  of  France ;  and  it  was  not 
altogether  strange,  therefore,  that  her  first 
engagement  outside  the  chorus  should  have 
been  to  act  a  French  girl.  This  occurred  in 
a  musical  comedy  called  ''  The  Chorus  Girl," 
which  was  brought  out  at  the  Boston  Mu- 
seum after  the  close  of  the  regular  season  in 
1898.  "The  Chorus  Girl"  was  pretty  poor 
stuff,  but  Miss  Ashley's  personal  success 
was  considerable. 

The  following  season  J.  C.  Duff  put  "  The 
Geisha  "  and  "  The  Circus  Girl "  on  the  road, 
and  Miss  Ashley  played  Mollie  Seamore  in 
"  The  Geisha "  and  Dolly  Wemyss  in  "  The 
Circus  Girl."  In  May,  1899,  when  "  Prince 
Pro  Tern,"  a  musical  comedy  by  R.  A.  Barnet 
and  L.  S.  Thompson,  which  has  never  played 
a  successful  engagement  outside  of  Boston, 


142       Prima  Donnas  a7id  Soubrettes 

was  revived,  Miss  Ashley  appeared  as  Gwen- 
dolyn. Those  who  heard  Josle  Sadler  sing 
"  If  I  could  only  get  a  Decent  Sleep "  in 
"  Broadway  to  Tokio/*  may  be  interested  to 
know  that  this  touching  ballad  was  originally 
one  of  the  chief  hits  of  *'  Prince  Pro  Tern." 
"  Prince  Pro  Tern,"  with  its  numerous  defi- 
ciencies, had  one  thoroughly  artistic  charac- 
ter, Tommy  Tompkins,  the  showman.  Fred 
Lenox  acted  the  part;  and  a  capital  bit  of 
comedy  it  was,  too,  deliciously  humorous 
in  its  depreciating  self-sufficiency,  wonder- 
fully clever  as  a  loving  and  sympathetic 
caricature,  and  thoroughly  convincing  as  a 
sincere  study  of  human  nature,  a  Thack- 
eray-like creation,  which  was  worthy  of  a 
more  pretentious  setting  than  it  received  in 
Mr.  Barnet's  show. 

When  "  A  Greek  Slave  "  was  produced  in 
New  York  in  November,  1899,  that  city  dis- 
covered Minnie  Ashley  and  forthwith  shouted 
her  name  from  the  housetops.     "■  A  Greek 


Minnie  Ashley  143 

Slave**  was  not  a  success,  but  Miss  Ash- 
ley's Iris  was.  As  the  "  New  York  Tele- 
gram "  said :  — 

"  And  there  is  Minnie  Ashley.  A  slim, 
graceful,  attractive  young  woman,  with 
scarcely  the  suggestion  of  her  wonderful 
magnetic  power  in  her  slender  outlines. 
Two  minutes  after  she  had  made  her  en- 
trance, the  house  was  hers  and  all  that 
therein  was.  She  could  n't  sing  in  the  same 
country  with  Dorothy  Morton.  She  could  n't 
act  in  a  manner  to  warrant  attention  on  that 
score  —  and  she  knew  it,  and  did  n't  make 
any  harrowing  attempts  to  reach  what  was 
beyond  her.  She  knew  herself.  There  was 
part  of  the  secret.  She  did  n't  endeavor 
to  gather  in  impossibilities.  She  simply 
came  out  and  played  with  that  audience  as 
a  little  child  would  play  with  a  roomful  of 
kittens.  *  You  may  purr  over  me  and  lick 
my  hand  and  look  at  me  with  your  great, 
appreciative  eyes,'  she  told  her  kittens,  *  and 


144       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

in  return,  I  will  stroke  you  and  soothe  you, 
and  charm  you/ 

"  And  she  certainly  did  charm  that  house. 
She  has  a  pleasing  little  voice  which  she  uses 
with  utmost  judiciousness.  She  has  an  in- 
nate grace  and  refinement  that  are  most  tell- 
ing accomplishments.  As  she  informed  us  in 
her  opening  song,  *  I  'm  a  Dear  Little  Iris,' 
a  slave  girl,  who  knows  how  to  drape  herself 
and  how  to  execute  the  steps  of  the  airiest, 
fairiest  dances.  There  have  been  many  times 
at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  when  great 
singers  have  been  overwhelmed  by  the  fierce 
applause  of  an  emotional  audience.  Then  the 
bravos  have  been  shouted  and  the  enthusiasm 
has  reached  a  fever  pitch.  But  before  last 
night  these  scenes  have  formed  no  part 
of  the  programme  at  the  Herald  Square. 
Miss  Ashley  changed  that  old  order,  and 
changed  it  with  the  lightness  and  lack  of  per- 
ceptible effort  which  characterized  her  whole 
performance.     The  house  simply  went  wild 


Minnie  Ashley  145 

over  this  practically  unknown  girl.  Her 
name  was  called  again  and  again,  and  the 
encores  of  her  pretty  little  songs  stretched 
the  opera  out  far  beyond  its  legitimate 
length.  The  house  admired  the  daintiness, 
the  womanliness,  and  the  suggestion  of  the 
thorough-bred  in  this  young  girl.  The  poise 
of  her  head,  the  poetical  motion  of  her 
body,  the  total  lack  of  self-consciousness, 
these  were  constant  dehghts." 

**To  Minnie  Ashley,"  declared  the**  Boston 
Transcript,"  a  few  weeks  later,  when  **  A  Greek 
Slave "  was  played  in  Boston,  "  fell  nine- 
tenths  of  the  honors  of  the  performance,  and 
she  gave  another  impersonation  fully  as 
charming  as  those  with  which  she  has  been 
associated  in  *  The  Geisha,'  *  The  Circus  Girl,' 
and  *  Prince  Pro  Tem.'  She  was  a  dainty  little 
slave,  demure  as  was  befitting  the  character, 
but  with  a  way  that  was  certainly  irresistible. 
She   is    a    real  comedienne,  and  each  of  the 

points  in  the  few  funny  lines  that  fell  to  her 

10 


146       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

lot  was  capitally  brought  out.  Especially 
clever  was  the  song  about  *  The  Naughty 
Little  Girl  *  in  the  second  act,  where  she 
made  the  hit  of  the  evening.  Nature  never 
intended  her  to  be  a  prima  donna,  but  it 
gave  her  the  power  to  sing  a  song  like  that 
in  a  way  that  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired, 
and  when  she  dances — well,  it  doesn't 
matter  in  what  language  she  dances ;  Latin, 
Japanese  or  Yankee,  the  result  is  just  the 
same." 

While  she  was  with  DeWolf  Hopper,  Miss 
Ashley  was  married  to  William  Sheldon,  a 
half-brother  of  Walter  Jones,  from  whom 
she  was  afterward  separated. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EDNA  MAY 

A  PRETTY  face  and  a  gentle,  winning  per- 
sonality brought  Edna  May  into  prominence 
in  the  most  dramatic  fashion.  Edna  May 
Petty,  the  daughter  of  E.  C.  Petty,  a  letter- 
carrier  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  lovely  to  look 
upon  and  demure  in  manner,  had  some  talent 
for  singing,  but  more  for  dancing,  when  her 
parents  yielded  to  her  entreaties  and  said 
that  she  might  go  to  New  York  to  study  for 
the  stage.  She  was  only  sixteen  years  old. 
Hardly  had  she  settled  down  to  her  singing 
and  dancing  lessons,  however,  when  along 
came  Fred  Titus,  at  that  time  the  holder  of 
the  hour  bicycle  record  and  one  of  the  most 
prominent  racing  men  in  the  country.  They 
were  married,  but  Edna  May  remained  just 


148       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

as  determined  as  ever  to  go  on  the  stage. 
Her  ambitions  were  forced  for  a  time  to  be 
satisfied  with  occasional  opportunities  to  sub- 
stitute in  church  choirs.  Her  name  first  ap- 
peared on  a  playbill  when  "  Santa  Maria " 
was  produced  at  Hammerstein's  in  New  York, 
but  the  part  was  so  small  as  to  be  practically 
non-existent.  Then  she  was  engaged  for 
White's  Farcical  Comedy  Company  and  ap- 
peared in  Charles  H.  Hoyt's  "  A  Contented 
Woman." 

At  this  point  there  is  a  dispute  as  regards 
Miss  May's  next  move,  or  at  least  there 
was  a  dispute  until  manager  and  star  patched 
up  their  difficulties.  George  W.  Lederer  was 
wont  to  claim  that  Edna  May  joined  the 
chorus  of  his  prospective  "  The  Belle  of  New 
York"  company.  At  the  last  moment,  the 
woman  whom  he  had  engaged  for  leading 
part  disappointed  him.  He  had  to  do 
something  quickly,  and  he  cast  about  in  his 
own  chorus  for  a  girl  who  might  fill  the  part 


Edna  May  149 

for  a  night  or  two  until  he  could  find  some- 
one to  take  it  permanently.  His  discerning 
eye  fell  on  the  plaintive  prettiness  of  Edna 
May.  "  She  '11  look  the  part,  anyhow,"  he 
declared.  So  in  this  haphazard  fashion, 
Violet  Grey,  the  Salvation  Army  lassie,  was 
passed  over  to  her,  and,  presto !  her  fortune 
was  made. 

"  But  it  was  not  that  way  at  all,"  pouted 
the  gentle  Miss  May,  after  she  had  signed  a 
contract  to  leave  Mr.  Lederer  and  return  to 
London  under  some  one  else's  care.  ^'  I  never 
was  in  Mr.  Lederer's  chorus.  I  went  to  Mr. 
Lederer  after  I  had  been  playing  a  small 
part  in  the  'Contented  Woman'  company. 
I  begged  him  to  put  my  name  down  for 
something  even  if  it  were  ever  and  ever  so 
little,  and  he  gave  me  the  part  of  Violet 
Grey  in  '  The  Belle.' '' 

At  this  time,  also,  —  this  period  devoted 
by  Miss  May  to  the  signing  of  the  contracts, 
which  never  amounted  to  anything,  after  all, 


150       Prima  Donnas  ajid  Souhrettes 

—  a  second  dispute  arose  regarding  Miss 
May's  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Lederer  for  her  suc- 
cess in  **  The  Belle."  Mr.  Lederer  announced 
to  a  deeply  impressed  public  that  he  had 
trained  Miss  May  with  the  most  extraordinary 
attention  to  detail.  He  had  made  her  walk 
chalk-lines  on  the  stage,  and  had  written  on 
the  music-score  minute  directions  regarding 
gestures,  even  indicating  the  exact  point 
where  she  was  captivatingly  to  cast  down 
her  eyes. 

"No,  no,  no,"  declared  Miss  May.  "All 
that  Is  very  unkind  and  very  untrue.  He  did 
not  teach  me  all  or  nearly  all  I  know  about 
my  art,  and  he  did  not  have  to  write  out  ges- 
tures and  full  directions  for  my  conduct  on 
the  stage.  Not  one  word  of  this  sort  of  thing 
was  written  in  the  score.  Mr.  Lederer  re- 
hearsed me,  it  is  true,  but  not  as  if  he  were 
rehearsing  a  performing  seal.  He  gave  me 
an  opportunity,  and  for  that  I  am  very  grate- 
ful.    But  that  is  all  he  did.     I  am  not  such  a 


Edna  May  151 

fool  as  Mr.  Lederer  is  always  pretending  to 
think  me." 

However,  regarding  Miss  May's  extra- 
ordinary popular  success  in  "  The  Belle  of 
New  York "  in  this  country,  and  more  espe- 
cially in  London,  there  can  be  no  dispute. 
That  is  a  fact  discernible  without  opera 
glasses.  It  was,  however,  almost  wholly  a 
triumph  of  personality.  Violet  Grey  is  what 
actors  call  a  **  fat "  part.  The  Salvation  Army 
lassie,  a  quaint,  subdued,  almost  pathetic 
figure,  thrown  in  the  midst  of  the  contrasting 
hurly-burly  and  theatrical  exaggerations  of  a 
typical  musical  farce,  appeals  irresistibly  to  the 
spectator's  sympathy.  She  touches  deftly 
the  sentiments,  for  in  her  modest  way  she  is 
a  bit  of  real  life,  a  touch  of  human  nature,  in 
surroundings  where  the  men  and  women  of 
every-day  life  are  complete  strangers. 

But  Violet  Grey  is  not  a  role  to  be  acted. 
It  is  not,  in  the  strictest  sense,  a  dramatic 
character  at  all,  merely  a  picture  from  life,  set 


152        Prima  Donnas  and  Sotihrettes 

forth  without  comment  and  without  exposi- 
tion. One  sees  all  that  there  is  to  see,  the 
instant  Violet  Grey  appears  on  the  scene ;  he 
recognizes  at  once  her  reahty  and  her  fidelity 
to  nature,  and  he  falls  a  victim  to  her  charm 
without  further  ado.  The  actress  cast  for  this 
part  must  in  a  sense  live  it.  She  must,  as 
Mr.  Lederer  said,  "look  the  part;  "  she  must 
suggest  at  a  glance,  modesty,  demureness, 
quaintness,  spirituality,  and  idealism.  Co- 
quetry, any  notion  of  archness  or  frivolity, 
must  be  rigorously  banished.  There  her 
responsibility  practically  ends,  for  folded 
hands,  cast-down  eyes,  and  the  ability  to 
sing  a  little  do  the  rest. 

Success  in  such  a  part  as  Violet  Grey  af- 
fords not  the  slightest  test  of  artistic  ability, 
and  Edna  May's  artistic  future  is  still  a  mat- 
ter of  doubt.  She  has  appeared  in  only 
one  operetta  aside  from  "The  Belle,"  —  "An 
American  Beauty,"  brought  out  in  London 
by  an  American  company  in  April,   1900. 


Edna  May  153 

The  remarkable  feature  of  Miss  May's 
career  was  the  furore  that  she  created  in 
London,  where,  due  as  much  to  her  personal 
popularity  as  to  any  other  one  thing,  *'  The 
Belle  of  New  York"  ran  for  eighty-five  weeks. 
It  was  wonderful,  when  one  thinks  of  it, 
that  sweet  simplicity  could  do  so  much.  Of 
course,  when  Miss  May  returned  to  this 
country  in  January,  1900,  she  had  many 
pleasant  remarks  to  make  about  the  London- 
ers.    Speaking  of  the  opening  night,  she  said  : 

"  I  played  the  part  during  the  long  run  in 
the  United  States,  so  I  was  very  used  to  it, 
and  there  was  nothing  out  of  the  ordinary 
about  the  first  night  in  London,  until  the  sen- 
sation caused  by  their  tremendous  applause 
came  to  me.  There  is  nothing  like  it,  nothing 
that  approaches  it.  It  is  quite  the  most  deli- 
cious sensation  on  earth.  I  don't  expect 
ever  to  feel  it  again  quite  as  I  did  that  night. 
It 's  like  the  first  kiss,  you  know,  or  the  first 
anything.     After  that  it 's  only  repetition. 


154       Prima  Donnas  and  Soiihrettes 

*'  Success  was  particularly  sweet  to  me  at 
that  time,  but  it  was  something  of  a  shock. 
I  was  n't  looking  for  such  a  reception.  They 
not  only  applauded,  they  shouted  and  del- 
uged me  with  flowers.  The  next  day  I  found 
myself  talked  about  everywhere.  I  had  done 
nothing  but  be  natural,  and  do  my  best,  yet 
they  praised  my  talent.  They  kept  my  rooms 
flower-laden ;  they  sent  me  rich  gifts,  and 
what  was  more,  —  oh,  a  great  deal  more,  — 
they  held  out  to  me  the  hand  of  friendship, 
men  and  women  alike,  and  made  me  one  of 
them. 

"  There  is  one  of  the  most  marked  differ- 
ences between  London  and  New  York.  Here 
a  girl  who  enters  the  profession  is  ostracized ; 
there  it  is  considered  an  added  charm.  Here 
if  a  girl  of  any  social  position  chooses  a  stage 
career,  it  must  be  at  a  great  personal  sacrifice. 
There,  whatever  social  prestige  she  may  have 
will  be  an  aid  to  her  in  her  professional 
ambitions.     One  of  the  greatest  helps  to  me 


Edna  May  155 

in  London  was  the  way  the  genuine  people 
of  the  aristocracy  opened  their  doors  to  me, 
and  made  me  welcome  in  their  lives  and 
homes.  For  my  own  part,  I  did  not  know 
that  it  was  possible  for  so  much  happiness 
to  come  to  a  single  life  as  I  have  realized 
during  the  past  two  years  abroad." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MARIE   CELESTE 

Almost  as  necessary  as  a  singing  voice  to 
the  young  woman  who  would  venture  into 
Hght  opera  and  musical  comedy,  are  physical 
attractiveness  and  personal  magnetism.  An 
unusually  good  voice,  daintiness  of  face  and 
figure,  and  a  winsome  personality  Marie 
Celeste  has,  and  she  has  one  other  quality 
which  to  me  makes  her  work  on  the  stage 
especially  enjoyable.  That  is  her  total  lack 
of  affectation.  When  one  sees  her  he  is  not 
conscious  of  that  irritating  screen  of  artificial- 
ity that  so  often  darkens  and  sometimes  hides 
completely  the  personality  on  the  stage.  An 
actor,  to  be  effective,  must  show  a  personality 
of  some  sort.  It  may  not  be  his  own,  but  it 
should  appear  to  be  his  own.     The   ability, 


Marie  Celeste  157 

under  the  conditions  represented  in  the 
theatre,  to  convince  an  audience  that  the 
personahty  represented  is  a  real  personaHty 
constitutes  that  branch  of  acting  known  as 
impersonation. 

Actors  try  to  accomphsh  this  deception 
by  various  means.  They  bring  to  their  aid 
wonderful  skill  in  make-up  and  astonishing 
ingenuity  in  pantomime ;  but  these  external 
devices  fail,  every  one  of  them,  to  produce 
the  impression  desired,  unless  the  final  effect 
on  the  mind  of  the  person  to  be  convinced  is 
one  of  simplicity  and  sincerity.  To  create 
this  impression  of  simplicity  and  sincerity, 
the  actor  must  project  his  character  mentally 
as  well  as  reproduce  it  physically;  he  must 
appeal  to  the  mind  as  well  as  to  the  eye ;  he 
must  know  human  nature ;  he  must  study  and 
experiment,  and  he  must  have  the  dramatic 
temperament. 

Simplicity  and  sincerity  of  this  kind  are 
none  too  common   on  the  stage,  and   espe- 


158        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

cially  is  one  not  apt  to  find  them  among  the 
men  and  women  who  interpret  any  form  of 
opera.  There  are  two  simple  reasons  for 
this.  One  is  that  the  operatic  singer  who 
has  a  chance  to  study  naturally  enough  seeks 
first  of  all  to  improve  the  voice  on  which 
he  is  so  dependent.  Acting  he  regards  as 
something  that  can  be  quickly  acquired  from 
the  ubiquitous  stage  manager.  The  second 
reason  is  that,  even  in  the  case  of  singers 
who  can  act,  the  artificiality  of  the  operatic 
scheme  —  drama  united  with  music  —  is 
bound  to  affect  the  player's  art.  The  player 
in  opera  acts,  not  as  men  and  women  act, 
but  as  operatic  tenors  or  sopranos  or  bassos 
have  acted  ever  since  opera  came  into  being. 
In  fact,  we  have  become  so  accustomed  to 
strutting  tenors  and  mincing  sopranos  that 
we  accept  what  they  have  to  offer  as  a  matter 
of  course.  If  only  they  sing  well  and  their 
inherent  artificiality  be  not  too  ridiculous,  we 
are  satisfied. 


Marie  Celeste  159 

Yet  when  spontaneity  and  conviction  are 
present,  what  a  change  in  conditions  they 
cause  !  They  make  opera  —  even  the  frivo- 
lous opera  of  the  hardworking  Harry  B. 
Smith,  who  has  what  William  J.  Henderson 
calls  the  "  operetta  libretto  habit  "  —  seem 
real.  One  does  not  have  to  adopt  the  in- 
tended illusion  by  a  sort  of  free-will  process ; 
it  is  forced  on  him. 

Marie  Celeste  is  one  of  the  few  actresses  in 
opera.  She  has  spontaneity  and  conviction, 
simphcity  and  sincerity,  and  in  particular 
refreshing  and  unconscious  naYvete.  Her 
personality  is  attractive,  winsome,  and  thor- 
oughly feminine,  and  her  style  is  vivacious, 
sparkling,  and  refined.  Her  voice  is  a  high  so- 
prano of  considerable  power,  and  might  easily 
of  itself  have  won  her  a  place  on  the  operatic 
stage.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  her 
greatest  successes  have  been  in  parts  where 
singing  was  something  of  a  secondary  consid- 
eration.    Both  physically  and  temperament- 


i6o       Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

ally,  Miss  Celeste  is  best  fitted  for  soubrette 
roles,  parts  that  require  appreciative  humor, 
girlish  charm,  and  artistic  finish,  ability  to 
dance,  and  some  pretensions  as  a  ballad 
singer.  Miss  Celeste's  dancing  is  dainty  and 
gracefiil,  without  physical  violence,  and  with 
a  hint  of  the  poetry  of  motion  that  makes 
dancing  something  more  than  an  athletic  feat. 
As  Winnifred  Grey  in  "  A  Runaway  Girl " 
—  a  part  in  which  personal  charm  counted 
for  a  great  deal  —  Miss  Celeste  made  a  splen- 
did impression  largely  through  her  ability  as 
an  actress.  The  music  of  the  part  was  too 
low  to  show  her  voice  to  the  best  advantage, 
yet  she  sang  the  fetching  "  The  Boy  Guessed 
Right  the  Very  First  Time "  song  more 
effectively  than  any  one  I  have  ever  heard. 
It  is,  of  course,  a  simple  enough  ditty,  which, 
however,  demands  considerable  finesse,  sug- 
gestive action,  and  a  strain  of  humor  to  make 
it  go  as  it  should.  The  sentiment  that  she 
put  into  the  second  verse  of  the  catchy  little 


Marie  Celeste  i6i 

duet,  "I  Think  'twould  Break  my  Heart," 
was  exquisitely  delicate  and  true.  Except 
for  a  pretty  moment  at  the  end  of  the  first 
act,  there  is  little  else  than  these  two  bits  in 
the  part,  aside  from  an  attractive  monotony 
of  brightness  and  happiness ;  and  brightness 
and  happiness,  of  course,  are  directly  in  the 
line  of  every  musical  comedy  girl. 

Marie  Celeste  —  her  full  name  is  Marie 
Celeste  Martin  —  was  born  and  brought  up 
in  New  York  City.  So  far  as  she  knows,  she 
was  the  first  one  of  her  family  to  go  upon  the 
stage.  In  fact,  from  her  mother  she  inherited 
a  strain  of  Quaker  blood,  which  certainly 
would  never  have  countenanced  a  theatrical 
career.  Her  mother's  grandfather,  however, 
was  a  Frenchman,  and  from  him  probably 
came  her  artistic  temperament.  He  was  a 
bit  of  an  inventor  in  his  way,  though  appar- 
ently not  a  very  practical  one,  a  man  who 
dreamed  of  great  things,  but  like  Cotta  in 
*'  The    Schonberg-Cotta   Family "    failed    to 

II 


1 62       Prima  Domias  and  Sotibrettes 

bring  them  to  an  issue  in  time  to  reap  any 
material  benefit.  Of  an  original  turn  of 
mind  and  a  sanguine  temperament,  he  experi- 
mented with  many  inventions  from  which  he 
expected  to  derive  fortune  and  fame.  None 
of  them  amounted  to  anything,  however. 

Marie's  father  died  when  she  was  a  girl 
studying  music  in  the  New  York  Conservatory, 
and  she  was  obliged  to  look  about  for  a 
means  whereby  to  earn  her  livelihood.  For 
some  time  she  had  thought  of  the  stage,  — 
say  rather  idly  speculated  regarding  it  as  a 
possibility  without  ever  really  believing  that 
she  would  sometime  adopt  it  as  her  life-work. 
Naturally,  therefore,  it  was  to  the  stage  that 
she  turned  at  this  time  of  adversity.  Her 
ambition  was  opera.  She  knew  that  she  had 
a  voice,  but  she  also  knew  that  she  could 
not  act.  With  rare  foresight  in  one  so 
young,  she  made  up  her  mind  that  the  first 
thing  for  her  to  do  was  to  learn  to  act,  and 
she  pluckily  took  an  engagement  in  a  stock 


Marie  Celeste  163 

company  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia.  That  was 
in  1890,  and  her  first  part  was  Pantile,  the 
maid  in  Ben  Teal's  melodrama,  "  The  Great 
Metropolis." 

"  Mr.  Teal,  whom  afterward  I  came  to 
know  very  well,  and  I  have  often  laughed 
over  that,"  said  Miss  Celeste.  "  But  it  was 
hard  work  in  that  stock  company.  We 
changed  the  bill  twice  a  week,  and  sometimes 
now  I  think  how  often  I  have  sat  with  a  dress- 
maker on  one  side  of  me  and  my  part  in 
a  chair  near  my  elbow  on  the  other  side, 
memorizing  my  lines  while  I  sewed  away  for 
dear  life  on  my  costumes." 

Miss  Celeste  steadily  gained  in  skill  as  an 
actress,  and  was  given  characters  of  increas- 
ing importance.  She  went  with  the  company 
to  Portland  ;  and  when  she  announced  that  she 
was  going  to  leave  the  organization  and  look 
for  an  opening  in  opera,  she  was  offered  the 
position  of  leading  woman  as  an  inducement 
to  stay. 


164        Prima  Donnas  and  Sonhrettes 

After  Miss  Celeste  returned  to  New  York, 
she  studied  singing  for  a  time,  and  then  was 
engaged  for  the  farce  comedy,  "  Hoss  and 
Hoss,"  which  exploited  Charles  Reed,  now 
dead,  and  WiUie  Collier,  who  is  at  present 
emulating  the  example  of  Nat  Goodwin  and 
trying  to  make  himself  over  into  a  legitimate 
comedian.  The  company  opened  at  the 
Hollis  Street  Theatre  in  Boston,  on  January 
12,  1892,  and  Miss  Celeste's  character  was 
Polly  Hoss.  It  was  not  really  a  character 
though,  only  a  name,  and  she  was  engaged 
not  to  act,  but  to  sing.  Everybody  in  the 
company  thought  that  she  was  a  beginner, 
and  she  did  not  tell  her  associates  how  she 
had  barely  escaped  being  leading  lady  of  a 
two-bills -a-week  stock-company. 

"  Hoss  and  Hoss "  was  a  typical  farce 
comedy  of  the  Charles  H.  Hoyt  school,  —  a 
plotless,  formless  thing,  which  was  no  play, 
but  a  vehicle.  The  chief  object  of  the  person 
that  conceived  it  was  to  get  every  person  in 


Marie  Celeste  165 

the  company  on  the  stage  at  the  same  time, 
toward  the  end  of  the  third  act.  When  this 
remarkable  artistic  feat  was  accomplished,  a 
leading  personage  in  the  cast  would  remark 
with  elaborate  casualness  :  — 

"  Seeing  we  're  all  here  and  looking  so 
well,  suppose  we  have  a  little  music." 

Forthwith  every  one  on  the  stage  fell  into 
the  nearest  chair  in  a  helpless  sort  of  a  way,  as 
if  life  were  a  veritable  snare  and  delusion,  and 
the  master  of  ceremonies  continued  :  — 

**  Miss  Jones,  will  you  kindly  favor  us  with 
that  beautiful  ballad  entitled  *  Way  Down 
upon  the  Swanee  River?'  " 

And  so  they  began,  and  thus  they  con- 
tinued, until  every  one  on  the  stage  had  his 
chance  to  air  his  talent  before  a  highly  enter- 
tained assemblage.  It  was  not  exactly  a  min- 
strel show,  but  it  approached  the  minstrel 
territory.  On  the  bill  it  was  called  the 
*'  olio." 

Miss  Celeste's  part  in  the  "  olio  "  was  to 


1 66        Prima  Donnas  and  Sonbrettes 

sing  a  ballad ;  and  as  no  one  knew  anything 
about  her,  she  was  placed  almost  at  the  end 
of  the  list  of  entertainers.  When  she  came  to 
talk  with  Frank  Palmer,  the  musical  director 
of  the  company,  he  asked  her  what  song  she 
had  chosen.  She  told  him,  and  then  he 
wanted  to  know  what  she  was  going  to  give 
as  an  encore. 

''  You  know,"  said  Miss  Celeste,  in  telling 
me  the  story,  "  I  was  n't  very  old,  and  I 
was  n't  very  big,  and  I  was  terribly  nervous, 
and  just  a  little  frightened.  I  knew  what  I 
intended  to  sing,  but  it  took  all  the  courage  I 
had  to  murmur  gently,  *  I  'd  like  to  sing, 
♦'Coming  Thro'  the  Rye.'" 

'♦  Never  shall  I  forget  the  expression  of 
disgust  on  Mr.  Palmer's  face. 

" '  I  '11  rehearse  you,  anyway,'  was  all  he 
said. 

"  But  I  did  n't  tell  him  that  I  had  taken  a  little 
advantage  of  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  had 
sung  '  Coming  Thro'  the  Rye  *  In  Halifax,  in 


Marie  Celeste  167 

a  part  which  required  a  song,  and  in  which 
the  old  melody  seemed  appropriate.  I  knew 
I  could  make  a  success  of  it. 

*'  We  went  on  with  the  rehearsals,  —  Mr. 
Palmer  and  I,  —  and  he  was  very  kind  and 
considerate  after  he  heard  me  sing,  trans- 
posed the  music  to  a  higher  register,  so  as  to 
show  my  voice  to  better  advantage,  and  gave 
me  any  number  of  little  points.  When  it  was 
all  arranged,  he  said :  — 

**  *  Now  promise  me  one  thing.  Promise 
that  you  won't  tell  any  one  in  the  company 
what  you  are  going  to  sing.' 

*'  I  promised.  I  suppose  he  was  afraid 
that  some  one  of  them  would  make  fun  of 
me. 

"*And  you  won't  flunk,  will  you?'  he 
added. 

*' '  No;  I  said,  '  I  won't  flunk.' 

''On  the  first  night,'*  continued  Miss 
Celeste,  "  '  Coming  Thro'  the  Rye '  brought 
me    four   or   five   recalls,    and    consequently 


1 68        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

after  that  the  stage  manager  gave  me  a  much 
better  place  in  the  '  olio,'  That  is  the  reason 
I  call  *  Coming  Thro'  the  Rye  '  my  mascot." 

After  her  farce  comedy  experience,  Miss 
Celeste  became  a  member  of  Lillian  Russell's 
opera  company,  appearing  as  Paquita  in 
'' Girofle-Girofla,"  Petita  in  ''The  Princess 
Nicotine,"  and  Wanda  in  "The  Grand 
Duchess."  During  the  season  of  1894-95 
she  was  with  Delia  Fox  in  "  The  Little 
Trooper,"  singing  the  part  of  Octavie  most 
charmingly,  and  acting  as  understudy  to  Miss 
Fox,  whose  role  she  played  many  times. 
The  next  season  she  returned  to  Miss 
Russell's  company,  making  so  effective  as  to 
attract  considerable  attention  the  trifling  part 
of  Ninetta  in  '*  The  Tzigane."  She  also  sang 
Gaudalena  in  **  La  Perichole,"  and  the  Duchess 
de  Paite  in  "  The  Little  Duke." 

Miss  Celeste  was  taken  seriously  ill  in 
March,  1896,  and  her  work  during  the  follow- 
ing season  was  necessarily  not  very  heavy. 


Marie  Celeste  169 

Under  the  management  of  Klaw  and  Erlanger 
she  appeared  as  the  Queen  in  "  The  Brown- 
ies," in  which,  by  the  way,  she  again  sang 
"  Coming  Thro'  the  Rye ;  "  and  the  following 
summer  she  made  a  decided  hit  as  Peone 
Burn  in  the  lively  spectacle,  **  One  Round  of 
Pleasure."  Mistress  Mary  in  ''  Jack  and  the 
Beanstalk"  followed,  and  then  she  succeeded 
Christie  MacDonald  as  Minutezza  in  "  The 
Bride  Elect."  Her  last  part  was  Winnifred 
Grey  in  "  A  Runaway  Girl." 

Miss  Celeste  has  also  sung  leading  parts 
with  the  Castle  Square  Opera  Company,  under 
Henry  W.  Savage's  management,  in  New 
York,  and  for  a  brief  season  in  Boston.  Her 
principal  part  with  this  organization  was  San- 
tuzza  in  "  Cavalleria  Rusticana." 

"  I  suppose  Mr.  Savage  thought  I  looked 
the  part,"  said  Miss  Celeste,  ''  and  so  he 
asked  me  to  study  it.  I  was  really  frightened 
at  the  idea.  I  told  him  that  I  had  never  tried 
anything     heavy    like    Santuzza,    and     that 


I/O       Prima  Domtas  and  Sotihrettes 

tragedy  was  not  in  my  line.  He  insisted  that 
I  attempt  it,  however,  and  so  I  did  the  best  I 
could.  I  got  into  the  part  far  better  than 
I  beheved  were  possible,  and  the  result 
surprised  me.  I  don't  think  I  could  do  any- 
thing with  a  role  that  runs  the  gamut  of 
emotions,  as  they  say.  But  Santuzza  is  all 
in  one  key,  a  perfect  whirlwind,  and  after  you 
once  strike  the  pace  she  fairly  carries  you 
along  with  her  own  impetuosity. 

"What  is  the  most  enjoyable  part  I  ever 
had?  "  said  Miss  Celeste,  repeating  my  ques- 
tion. "That's  easily  answered:  Mataya  in 
*  Wang,'  which  I  played  during  a  summer  en- 
gagement, just  before  DeWolf  Hopper  went 
to  England.  He  's  such  a  dear  boy, —  Ma- 
taya, I  mean,  —  thinks  he  is  so  very  sporty 
when  he  is  n't  at  all,  and  then  he  's  so  very 
much  in  love.     I  was  very  fond  of  that  boy. 

"  I  think  there  is  a  fascination  about  boys' 
parts,  anyway.  It  is  something  of  a  study  to 
do  them  just  right,  to  be  feminine  and  still 


Marie  Celeste  i/r 

not  to  be  effeminate.  An  old  stage  manager 
once  said  to  me,  '  Be  sure  you  please  the 
women.  That  will  bring  them  to  the  theatre, 
and  they  will  bring  the  men.'  The  difficulty 
in  playing  boys  is  to  please  the  women,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  keep  your  boy  from 
being  a  poor,  weak,  colorless  creature.  One 
must  never  overstep  the  line  of  womanHness 
in  seeking  masculinity,  and  she  must  still 
make  the  character  a  real  boy  and  not  a  girl 
disguised  as  a  boy." 


CHAPTER  XV 

CHRISTIE   MACDONALD 

After  eight  years  of  soubrette  experience 
Christie  MacDonald  unexpectedly  came  into 
prima  donnaship  in  February,  1900.  A  light 
opera  called  "The  Princess  Chic,"  book  by 
Kirke  LaShelle  and  music  by  Julian  Edwards, 
had  been  hving  a  quiet  life  at  the  Columbia 
Theatre,  Boston,  for  several  weeks.  For 
some  reason  or  other  it  did  not  seem  to 
go  just  as  it  should.  It  was  a  good  opera 
at  that  —  much  better  than  the  average. 
Mr.  LaShelle's  book  told  a  story  with  a 
genuine  dramatic  climax,  and  Mr.  Edwards's 
music  was  charming,  —  simple  but  melodious. 
There  was  action  enough  apparently,  but 
the  performance  dragged.  It  lacked  snap 
and   vigor. 


Copyright,  1896,  by  Aime  Uupont,  N.  Y. 

CHRISriK     MACDONALD. 


Christie  Mac  Donald  173 

The  prima  donna  role  in  this  opera  was 
one  of  great  difficulty.  It  demanded  an  ac- 
tress as  well  as  a  singer,  —  a  woman  who 
could  be  swaggering,  audacious,  and  mas- 
culinely  incisive  as  the  Princess,  masquerad- 
ing as  her  own  envoy,  timid,  modest,  and 
shrinkingly  feminine  as  the  make-believe 
peasant  girl,  and  finally  queenly  and  royal 
as  the  Princess  in  her  proper  person.  The 
plot  of  *'  The  Princess  Chic,"  by  the  way, 
paralleled  history  in  a  curious  manner,  and 
the  story  of  how  it  was  written  was  told  me 
by  Mr.  LaShelle :  — 

"  To  begin  with,"  said  he,  *' '  The  Princess 
Chic  *  was  not  taken  from  the  French,  though 
there  was  a  French  vaudeville  with  the  same 
title.  I  got  the  idea  of  the  opera  fixed  in  my 
mind  after  seeing  Henry  Irving  play  *  Louis 
XL*  during  one  of  his  visits  to  this  country. 
You  remember  in  that  drama  where  the  en- 
voy from  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  and  his 
clanking  guard  march  into  Louis's  presence. 


1/4       Prima  Do7inas  and  Soubrettes 

The  envoy  throws  his  mailed  gauntlet  at 
Louis's  feet  and  exclaims,  *  That  is  the  an- 
swer of  Charles  the  Bold !  '  or  words  to  that 
effect,  at  any  rate. 

*'  That  kindled  my  admiration  for  Charles 
the  Bold,  and  I  have  been  admiring  him  ever 
since.  Consequently  when  I  wanted  a  comic 
opera  and  could  n't  get  any  one  to  write  it 
for  me,  I  said  to  myself,  *  Here 's  a  chance 
for  Charles  the  Bold.'  I  forthwith  started  in 
on  what  is  now  the  second  act  of  *  The  Prin- 
cess Chic,'  and  wrote  backward  and  forward. 

"  Now  comes  the  odd  part  of  the  whole 
business.  I  had  to  have  a  woman  for  my 
opera,  so  I  invented  the  Princess  Chic.  I 
had  to  have  a  plot,  —  I  'm  a  bit  old-fashioned, 
I  know,  —  so  I  invented  the  intrigue  of  Louis 
XL  plotting  to  cause  a  revolt  among  the  sub- 
jects of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  I  seemed  to 
be  getting  along  first-rate  when  it  occurred 
to  me  that  it  would  n't  do  any  harm  to  delve 
a  bit  into  history.     So  I  delved. 


Christie  MacDoiiald  175 

"  You  can  imagine  my  astonishment  when 
I  found  that  I  had  unwittingly  been  duph- 
cating  to  a  startling  extent  historical  fact.  I 
discovered  that  there  actually  had  been  a 
Princess  Chic.  I  learned  that  Louis  XI.  had 
thought  to  cause  trouble  in  Charles's  domain, 
and  by  this  means  to  open  a  way  for  the 
seizure  of  that  province  for  France.  The 
Duke's  bold  move  in  arresting  the  King  and 
holding  him  captive  until  the  King  agreed  to 
a  treaty  that  suited  Charles  was  new  to  me, 
however,  and  I  grabbed  it  quick. 

**  Now  you  have  the  whole  story  of  '  The 
Princess  Chic'  Somebody  has  accused  me  of 
coquetting  with  history.  I  deny  all  coquetry. 
'  The  Princess  Chic  '  is  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses genuine  history,  much  nearer  fact  than 
many  a  historical  drama  that  makes  more 
pretences  of  sticking  closely  to  the  truth." 

However,  history  or  no  history,  the  opera 
did  not  act  as  it  should,  and  Mr.  LaShelle 
decided  to  try  what  the  effect  of  a  new  prima 


176       Prima  Donnas  and  Soiihrettes 

donna  would  be.     He  wanted  Camille  d'Ar- 
ville,  but  she  was  not  available ;  and  by  some 
marvellous   stroke    of  good    fortune    he   hit 
upon    Christie   MacDonald.      How   he   hap- 
pened to  do  it  is  a  mystery.     Christie  Mac- 
Donald  was,  of  course,  well  known  as  a  very 
amiable  little  lady  with  a  decided  fancy  for 
short  skirts  and  for  frisky  and  vivacious  char- 
acters, that  sang  prettily  and  danced  nimbly. 
Never  for  a  moment  had  she  been  associated 
with   the   dignified   prima   donna.     Nor  had 
she  ever  been  guilty  of  seriousness.     More- 
over,  if  the   whole    truth   were   to   be   told, 
her  voice  —  though  sweet,  delicate,  musical, 
and  skilfully  controlled  —  was  by  no  means 
strong.     Decidedly  Christie  MacDonald  had 
other  things   besides   a  voice   to   make   her 
attractive.     There  was  her  personality,  mag- 
netically feminine,  her  temperament,  so  sun- 
shiny and  happy,  and  her  face,  not  exactly 
pretty,  but   immensely  attractive   when   fun 
lighted  it  up  with  smiles. 


Christie  MacDonald  I'j'j 

Therefore  Christie  MacDonald's  Princess 
Chic  came  as  a  great  surprise.  At  first,  she 
was  apparently  feeling  her  way  in  the  role. 
She  was,  in  fact,  a  model  of  discretion,  but 
save  in  one  particular  her  acting  lacked  force 
and  conviction.  As  the  peasant  girl,  in  this 
three-sided  impersonation,  she  was  from  the 
first  exquisite.  Never  was  the  subtle  attack 
of  a  modest  maiden  upon  a  susceptible  man's 
heart  more  daintily  or  more  fascinatingly 
exhibited.  Under  every  circumstance  Miss 
MacDonald  was  simple  and  straightforward 
in  her  methods,  and  absolutely  free  from 
affectation  and  self-consciousness.  How 
thoroughly  delightful  that  is!  Singers,  in 
particular,  are  the  victims  of  conventional 
mannerisms,  smiles  that  are  meaningless  and 
as  a  result  expressionless,  curious  contortions 
with  the  eyes,  and  strange  movements  of  the 
hands.  How  much  they  would  gain  by  mas- 
tering the  difficult  art  of  artistically  doing 
nothing ! 

12 


178       Prima  Donnas  and  Sonhrettes 

With  so  much  that  was  good  in  evidence 
during  her  earhest  presentations  of  the  Prin- 
cess Chic,  with  her  faults  those  of  omission 
rather  than  commission,  it  was  only  natural 
that  Miss  MacDonald  should  improve  greatly 
as  she  became  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
requirements  of  the  part,  and  as  she  gained 
experience  in  acting  it.     Especially  did  she 
seem  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the  Princess  Chic 
masquerading  as  the  handsome  young  envoy. 
She   developed  a   most    entrancing    swagger 
and  the  most  captivating  nonchalance.     Her 
voice,  too,  which  at"  first  seemed  almost  too 
light   for    Mr.  Edwards's   trying   music,   was 
heard  to  a  much  better  advantage  later ;   and 
in    spite    of  its   want    of  volume,    it   had    a 
strange    insistency,    a    peculiar    penetrating 
quality,  which   enabled    it  to    balance  admi- 
rably the  full  chorus  in  the  ensemble  climaxes. 
Before   she  adopted  the    stage  profession- 
ally, Christie  MacDonald  gained  a  little  ex- 
perience by   taking    small   parts    in   several 


Christie  Mac  Donald  179 

summer  "  snap  "  companies  in  her  home  city 
of  Boston.     Her  parents  were  not  altogether 
pleased  at  her  theatrical  aspirations,  and  even 
after   she    had    been    enrolled    in    1892  as   a 
member  of  Pauline  Hall's  company,  she  was 
persuaded    to    give    up    the    engagement    in 
deference    to     their    wishes.      Just    at    this 
critical    point    in    her   career,    however,    she 
chanced   to   meet  Francis  Wilson,   who   had 
*'  The  Lion  Tamer  "  in  rehearsal.     He  heard 
her  sing  and  liked  her  voice  so  well  that  he 
offered    her    a   place    in  his  company.     The 
temptation  was  too  strong  to  be  resisted,  and 
Miss  MacDonald  established  herself  under  the 
Wilson  banner.     At  first  she  was  given  only 
a  small  part  in  ''  The  Lion  Tamer,"  and  at 
the  same   time   understudied  Lulu  Glaser  in 
both   ''The  Lion  Tamer"  and  "The  Merry 
Monarch."      The    next    season    she    played 
Marie,  the  peasant    girl,  in  "  Erminie,"   and 
during  Miss  Glaser's  illness,  Javotte.     When 
"The  Devil's  Deputy"  was  brought. out  for 


i8o       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

the  season  of  1894-95,  she  created  the  role 
of  Bob,  the  valet.  She  was  a  capital  Mrs. 
Griggs  in  the  pretty  Sullivan  opera,  "  The 
Chieftain,"  her  singing  of  the  topical  song, 
"  I  Think  there  is  Something  in  That,"  being 
especially  popular.  During  the  summer  of 
1896  she  appeared  in  Boston  in  ''The 
Sphinx,"  making  a  pleasing  impression  as 
Shafra.  The  following  fall  found  her  again 
with  the  Francis  Wilson  forces,  playing 
Lucinde  in  *'  Half  a  King."  That  summer 
she  filled  another  engagement  in  Boston  as 
the  Japanese  maiden  Woo  Me,  in  the  not- 
too-successful  opera,  **  The  Walking  Dele- 
gate." It  was  a  dainty  part  and  charmingly 
done. 

The  next  season  Miss  MacDonald  was 
engaged  by  Klaw  and  Erlanger  for  the  Sousa 
opera,  ''  The  Bride  Elect,"  with  which  she 
remained  two  seasons,  and  this  was  followed 
by  her  appearance  in  "  The  Princess  Chic." 


MARIE    DRESSLER. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

MARIE   DRESSLER 

One  cannot  see  Marie  Dressier  on  the 
stage  without  being  convinced  that  she  is 
acting  no  one  in  the  world  but  herself.  Such, 
I  believe,  is  the  actual  condition  of  affairs, 
although  there  are  sometimes  strange  para- 
doxes in  theatrical  life.  It  would  not  be 
altogether  extraordinary  for  the  rollicking 
tomboy  of  the  stage  to  be  in  private  life  the 
most  retired  and  the  most  dignified  person 
imaginable,  a  woman  with  spinster  written  all 
over  her  face  and  reeking  in  domesticity,  with 
a  decided  fondness  for  tea,  toast,  and  tidies. 

However,  that  is  not  the  case  with  Marie 
Dressier.  She  has  a  mental  quirk  that  keeps 
the  incongruous  side  of  life  in  her  view  prac- 
tically all  the  time.     She  cannot  help  pricking 


1 82        Prima  Donnas  and  Sonhrettes 

constantly  the  bubble  of  mirth  any  more  than 
she  can  help  breathing.  Her  humor  is  just 
the  kind  that  one  would  naturally  expect  to 
find  as  a  companion  to  her  overflowing 
physique,- — ponderous,  weighty,  and  a  bit 
crude,  perhaps,  but  spontaneous,  real,  and 
thoroughly  good-natured.  She  never  stabs 
with  the  keen  shaft  of  cynical  wit,  and  she 
does  no  business  in  the  epigram  market.  Her 
specialty  is  incongruity,  for  Marie  Dressier  is 
a  burlesquer  in  thought,  word,  and  deed,  and 
being  a  burlesquer  she  is  of  necessity  abso- 
lutely without  Illusions.  When  one  is  so  sus- 
ceptible to  the  oddities,  the  inconsistencies, 
and  the  tragic  pettiness  of  human  affairs  as 
she  is,  it  is  a  toss-up  whether  or  not  his  settled 
condition  of  mind,  after  a  fair  experience  with 
the  world,  be  one  of  gloomy  pessimism  or 
irresponsible  optimism.  Had  Miss  Dressier 
been  by  nature  cold,  suspicious,  and  inher- 
ently selfish,  had  she  been  unsympathetic 
and  without  the  milk  of  human  kindness,  her 


Marie  Dressier  183 

instinct  for  incongruity  would  surely  have 
turned  her  toward  misanthropy.  Her  dispo- 
sition, however,  was  rollicking,  jovial,  and  fun- 
loving.  She  was  naturally  impulsive,  gener- 
ous, and  warm-hearted.  Consequently,  life, 
even  in  its  smallnesses  and  its  meannesses, 
made  her  laugh.  With  the  humorist's  whimsi- 
cal temperament  she  united  also  the  happy 
faculty  of  being  able  to  communicate  to 
others  by  means  of  the  theatre  her  comical 
view  of  things.  Choosing  to  do  this  through 
the  force  of  her  own  personality  rather  than 
by  infusing  her  personality  into  a  dramatist's 
conception,  she  became  a  droll,  a  professional 
jester. 

Miss  Dressler's  best-known  and  most  char- 
acteristic work  on  the  stage  was  done  in  the 
role  of  the  boisterous  music-hall  singer,  Flo 
Honeydew,  in  ''  The  Lady  Slavey."  It  was 
hardly  a  case  of  acting,  • —  better  call  it  a  case 
of  letting  herself  go.  Marie  Dressier  without 
subterfuge  presented  herself  in  the  guise  of 


184       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

the  unconventional  Miss  Honeydew.  She 
seemed  a  big,  overgrown  girl  and  a  thor- 
oughly mischievous  romp  with  the  agility  of 
a  circus  performer  and  the  physical  elasticity 
of  a  professional  contortionist. 

To  call  her  graceful  would  be  an  unpardon- 
able accusation.  Possibly  she  might  have 
been  graceful  had  she  chosen  to  be ;  but  what 
she  was  after  principally  was  energy,  and  she 
got  it,  —  whole  car-loads  of  it.  Her  comic 
resource  was  inexhaustible,  her  animal  spirits 
were  irrepressible,  and  her  audacity  ap- 
proached the  sublime; 

Yet,  amid  all  her  amazing  unconventionality 
and  her  astonishing  athletic  feats,  one  found, 
if  he  met  her  on  her  own  plane  of  impersonal 
jollity,  neither  vulgarity  nor  suggestiveness. 
Her  mental  attitude  toward  her  audience  was 
absolutely  clean  and  straightforward.  She 
was  not  a  woman  cutting  up  antics  and  in- 
dulging in  unseemly  pranks,  but  a  royal  good 
fellow  with  an  infinite  variety  of  jest. 


Marie  Dressier  185 

With  nothing  especially  tangible  to  offer  as 
evidence,  I  have  a  suspicion  that  Marie 
Dressier,  if  she  could  escape  from  her  repu- 
tation as  a  burlesquer,  might  act  a  "  straight " 
part  not  at  all  badly.  It  is  only  a  fine  line 
between  burlesque  and  legitimate  acting,  only 
a  triflingly  different  mental  attitude,  which 
results  in  travesty  instead  of  seriousness.  Of 
course,  the  burlesque  must  be  set  forth  with 
the  proper  amount  of  exaggeration  to  give 
point  to  the  take-off,  but  that  is  only  a  matter 
of  technique.  Artificiality  in  actors  and  in- 
sincerity in  dramatists  very  often  result  in 
unconscious  burlesque.  The  melodramatic 
school  is  particularly  prone  to  this  most  in- 
artistic of  blunders,  and  many  a  good  laugh 
has  followed  lines  that  were  supposed  to  be 
charged  with  the  most  highly  colored  senti- 
ments and  situations  that  were  intended  to  be 
dramatically  strong  and  impressive.  One  at 
all  familiar  with  Miss  Dressler's  methods  can- 
not have  failed  to  notice  her  trick  of  beginning 


1 86       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

a  speech  with  profound  and  even  convincing 
seriousness  and  ending  it  in  ridiculous  con- 
trast with  a  sudden  drop  from  the  dramatic 
to  the  commonplace.  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  one  knows  for  a  certainty  that  she  is 
fooling  him,  she  succeeds  invariably  in 
making  the  first  part  of  her  sentence  seem 
honest  and  sincere. 

Now,  I  do  not  believe  that  she  could  hit 
just  the  right  key  every  time  in  these  startling 
and  laughter-provoking  contrasts,  if  she  did 
not  have  to  an  unusual  extent  the  instinct  for 
dramatic  effect,  which  is  so  large  a  part  of 
the  equipment  of  the  legitimate  actor.  How- 
ever, I  hope  that  she  will  never  make  the  ex- 
periment. There  are  already  enough  serious 
actors  of  ordinary  calibre,  while  the  genuine 
burlesquer  of  Marie  Dressier  quality  is  rare 
indeed. 

Miss  Dressler's  versatility  as  a  single  enter- 
tainer was  splendidly  illustrated  in  a  curious 
variety     act,    which     was     called    "  Twenty 


Marie  Dressier  187 

Minutes  in  Shirt  Waists."  It  was  devised  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  showing  off  to  the  best 
advantage  Miss  Dressler's  native  talent  for 
fun-making  and  travesty.  It  was  mere  hodge- 
podge, of  course,  with  neither  rhyme  nor 
reason,  but  it  did  afford  Miss  Dressier  every 
chance  that  she  could  desire  to  display  her 
marvellous  resource  as  a  comic  entertainer. 
The  title  of  the  sketch,  "  Twenty  Minutes  in 
Shirt  Waists,"  suggested  some  sort  of  a  dis- 
robing act,  but  in  that  it  was  deceptive. 
Indeed,  the  title  —  and  possibly  it  was  all  the 
better  for  that —  had  no  connection  at  all  with 
the  act  beyond  the  fact  that  Miss  Dressier 
and  her  assistant,  Adele  Farrington,  both 
wore  shirt  waists  of  spotless  white.  It  was  a 
very  intimate  and  unstagy  affair.  The  two 
entertainers  called  each  other  Marie  and 
Adele,  and  they  kept  up  the  illusion  of  spon- 
taneous comradeship  by  appearing,  or  seem- 
ing to  appear,  in  the  Eleanora  Duse  fashion, 
without  facial  make-up.    The  turn  itself  was  a 


1 88        Prima  Domias  and  Soubrettes 

continuous  ''jolly,"  and  Miss  Dressier  intro- 
duced before  it  was  over  about  everything 
funny  that  she  ever  did  in  the  theatre,  includ- 
ing the  amusing  revolving  hat  of  "  The  Lady 
Slavey"  fame. 

Miss  Dressier  was  born  in  Canada,  and  went 
on  the  stage  when  she  was  sixteen  years  old ; 
and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  was  without 
experience,  —  in  fact,  before  she  had  ever  seen 
a  comic  opera,  —  she  rather  inverted  the  ordi- 
nary method  of  procedure,  and  started  at 
once  to  play  old  women.  Her  first  character 
was  Katisha  in  "■  The  Mikado  "  in  a  company 
managed  by  Jules  Grau.  The  reason,  so  she 
claims,  that  she  made  a  try  at  "  old  women  " 
was  because  she  was  too  big  and  healthy  ever 
to  meet  with  success  as  a  soubrette.  Her 
Katisha  was  sufficiently  liked  to  convince  her 
that  light  opera  was  just  the  place  for  her, 
and  thus  her  theatrical  career  began. 

*'  I  might  state,"  remarked  Miss  Dressier, 
naively,  in  speaking  of  her  early  experiences, 


Marie  Dressier  189 

"  that  we  members  of  the  Grau  Company 
were  promised  and  were  supposed  to  receive 
very  good  salaries.  All  we  got,  however, 
was  the  promises,  and  they  came  early  and 
often.  No,  that  is  not  altogether  true :  we 
got  besides  the  promises  twenty-five  cents 
which  was  handed  to  each  member  of  the 
company  every  night.  It  was  supposed  to 
be  squandered  in  the  purchase  of  beer.  I 
forgot  this  little  circumstance,  for  I  did  not 
drink  beer,  and  consequently  in  my  case  the 
aforesaid  quarter  of  a  dollar  was  not  forth- 
coming. This  omission  hurt  me  so  much 
that  I  resigned  from  this  enterprising  organ- 
ization, and  wandered  to  Philadelphia.  The 
exchequer  was  about  as  low  as  it  well  could 
be,  and  I  was  glad  enough  to  take  a  place  in 
the  chorus  of  a  summer  company  at  eight 
dollars  a  week,  —  not  a  great  deal,  to  be  sure, 
but  I  got  it,  such  as  it  was." 

Miss  Dressler's  next  engagement  was  with 
the  Bennett  and  Moulton   Opera  Company, 


190        Prima  Donnas  and  Sonbrettes 

from  which  Delia  Fox  was  also  graduated. 
This  organization  played  week  stands  in  small 
cities  and  large  towns,  giving  two  perform- 
ances a  day  and  changing  the  bill  every  day. 
This  may  be  said  to  have  been  Miss  Dressler's 
school,  for  while  under  the  Bennett  and 
Moulton  management  she  appeared  in  thirty- 
eight  different  operas  and  played  every  vari- 
ety of  part,  from  prima  donna  roles  to  old 
women. 

Following  this  arduous  experience  on  the 
road  came  her  first  appearance  in  New 
York  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre  as  Cuni- 
gonde  in  "  The  Robber  of  the  Rhine,"  an 
opera  of  which  Maurice  Barrymore,  who 
wrote  the  book,  and  Charles  Puerner,  who 
composed  the  music,  never  had  reason  to 
feel  proud.  Her  first  New  York  success  of 
any  consequence,  therefore,  was  not  made 
until  she  appeared  with  Camille  D'Arville  in 
*'  Madeleine,  or  the  Magic  Kiss."  Her  next 
venture  was  as  the   Queen    in   "  1492,"   the 


Marie  Dressier  191 

part  which  brought  fame  to  that  most  accom- 
plished woman  impersonator,  Richard  Harlow. 
After  the  termination  of  this  engagement  she 
appeared  for  a  time  at  the  Garden  Theatre, 
New  York,  under  the  management  of  A.  M. 
Palmer,  and  then  joined  Lillian  Russell  in 
"  Princess  Nicotine."  Her  remarkable  suc- 
cess in  "  The  Lady  Slavey  "  came  next,  and 
since  then  she  has  been  seen  in  "  Hotel  Topsy 
Turvy,"  "The  Man  in  the  Moon,"  and 
vaudeville. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

BELLA  FOX 

It  was  a  dozen  or  fifteen  years  ago  that  the 
hard-working  organization  known  as  the  Ben- 
nett and  Moulton  Opera  Company  was  a  fre- 
quent visitor  to  the  small  cities  and  large  towns 
of  New  England.  It  played  week  stands  with 
daily  matinees,  and  it  was,  more  than  likely, 
the  pioneer  to  flaunt  in  the  theatrical  field  the 
conquering  banner  of  *'  ten,  twenty,  thirty." 
I  have  every  feeling  of  gratitude  toward  the 
Bennett  and  Moulton  Opera  Company,  for  it 
introduced  me,  at  the  modest  rate  of  ten  cents 
per  introduction,  which  small  sum  purchased 
the  right  to  sit  aloft  in  the  gallery,  to  all  the 
famous  old-time  operettas,  — "  Olivette,"  ''The 
Mascotte,"  ''  The  Chimes  of  Normandy,"  and 
others. 


J         J  J  J 


J       3  J 


Copyright,  i8g4,  by  J.  B.  Falk,  Waldorf-Astoria,  N.  Y. 

BELLA    FOX. 


I    o  < 


Delia  Fox  193 

As  I  recall  the  annual  performances  of  this 
obscure  troupe,  they  were  surprisingly  good. 
At  least,  so  they  seemed  to  me,  and  I  can 
laugh  even  now  at  the  excruciatingly  funny 
fellow  who  sang  the  topical  song,  "  Bob  up 
Serenely "  in  "  Olivette."  There  was  also  a 
curious  dance,  I  remember,  that  went  with 
the  song,  —  a  spreading  out  simultaneously 
of  arms  and  legs  in  jumping-jack  fashion,  — 
and  we  boys  thought  it  vastly  amusing.  We 
clapped  and  stamped  and  whistled,  and  kept 
the  poor  comedian  at  work  as  long  as  our 
breath  held  out  and  long  after  his  had  gone. 

The  last  time  that  I  saw  the  Bennett  and 
Moulton  Opera  Company  was  in  "  Fra  Dia- 
volo,"  and  the  prima  donna  —  the  term  seems 
ridiculous  and  absurd  as  1  think  of  the  person 
to  whom  it  is  applied  —  was  a  golden-haired 
little  creature,  wonderfully  ;  imple,  tremen- 
dously in  earnest,  and  strangely  fascinating, 
a  dainty  slip  of  a  girl,  who  seemed,  in  truth, 
only  a  child      I  can  see  her  now  as   she  sat 

13 


194       Prima  Donnas  and  Soiihrettes 

on  the  edge  of  the  bed  in  the  chamber  scene, 
unfastening  her  shoes,  singing  very  sweetly 
and  very  expressively  her  good-night  song, 
all  unconscious  of  the  bold  brigands  who 
were  watching  the  proceedings  from  their 
places  of  concealment.  She  charmed  me  as 
no  singer  in  light  opera  ever  had  before,  and 
the  impression  that  she  made  upon  me  has 
never  been  lost.  The  child  was  Delia  Fox, 
of  whom  at  that  time  no  one  had  ever  heard 
—  Delia  Fox  in  the  humblest  of  surroundings, 
but  to  me  more  fascinating  than  in  any  of 
the  brilliant  settings"  that  have  since  been 
hers. 

I  did  not  see  Delia  Fox  again  until  1890, 
when  she  was  playing  Blanche  in  ''  Castles  in 
the  Air"  with  DeWolf  Hopper.  She  had 
changed  greatly  in  the  few  years,  though  far 
less  than  she  has  since  the  days  of  ^'  Castles 
in  the  Air,"  ^'Wang,"  and  ''Panjandrum." 
Her  appeaHng,  unsophisticated  girhshness 
had  gone,  and  in  its  place  was  self-possession 


Delia  Fox  1 95 

and  authority.  She  was  charming  in  her 
daintiness,  provoking  in  her  coquetry,  a  tan- 
tahzing  atom  of  femininity.  Her  archness  was 
not  bold  nor  unwomanly,  and  her  vivacity  was 
well  within  the  bounds  of  refinement  and  good 
taste.  Her  singing  voice,  too,  was  musical, 
though  not  over  strong. 

Delia  Fox  was  born  in  St.  Louis  on  Octo- 
ber 13,  1872.     Her  father,  A.  J.  Fox,  was  a 
photographer,    who  made    something    of    a 
specialty    of    theatrical    pictures;  and    thus 
Delia's  babyhood  was  passed,  not  exactly  in 
the  playhouse  atmosphere,  perhaps,  but  cer- 
tainly in  an  atmosphere  next  door  to  that  of 
the  greasepaint  and  footlights.     Her  experi- 
ence on  the  stage  began  when  she  was  only 
seven   years    old    as    the  midshipmate    in    a 
children's  "  Pinafore  "  company,  which  trav- 
elled in  Missouri  and   Illinois   for    a  season. 
She  was  an  astonishingly  precocious    child, 
and   many  persons  who  watched  her  shook 
their  heads  and  predicted  that  her  talent  had 


196       Prima  Donnas  and  Sonbrettes 

ripened  too  early,  and  that,  as  is  the  case  with 
many  promising  stage  children,  she  would 
never  amount  to  anything. 

Apparently  this  midshipmate  experience 
firmly  established  in  Miss  Delia's  childish 
mind  the  intention  to  become  an  actress. 
Her  parents,  however,  succeeded  in  keeping 
her  in  school  for  a  few  years  longer,  though 
she  appeared  in  several  local  performances 
where  a  child  was  needed.  When  she  was 
nine  years  old,  for  instance,  she  acted  for  a 
week  in  St.  Louis  the  child's  part  in  the 
production  of ''  A  Celebrated  Case  "  of  which 
James  O'Neill  was  the  star,  and  she  was  also 
at  one  time  with  a  ''  Muldoon's  Picnic " 
company.  Her  first  real  professional  experi- 
ence, however,  was  obtained  with  an  organ- 
ization known  as  the  Dickson  Sketch  Club. 

This  was  gotten  up  by  four  St.  Louis 
young  men,  W.  F.  Dickson  and  W.  G. 
Smythe,  both  of  whom  became  prominent 
theatrical  managers,  Augustus    Thomas,  the 


Delia  Fox  197 

playwright,  and  Edgar  Smith,  the  author  of 
several  Casino  pieces,  and  at  present  writer- 
in-ordinary  to  Weber  and  Fields.  Mr. 
Thomas  made  a  one-act  play  of  Mrs.  Frances 
Hodgson  Burnett's  story,  "  Editha's  Bur- 
glar," and  the  company  also  appeared  in  a 
musical  farce  called  **  Combustion."  Delia 
Fox  was  the  Editha  in  the  play  and  the 
soubrette  in  the  musical  piece,  while  Mr. 
Thomas  acted  Bill  Lewis,  the  burglar,  and 
Mr.  Smith  was  Paul  Benton.  Miss  Fox's 
impersonation  of  Editha  was,  according  to 
report,  very  good  indeed.  At  any  rate,  the 
success  of  the  play  was  sufficient  to  encour- 
age the  author  to  expand  it  to  three-acts. 
The  result  was  "  The  Burglar,"  one  of  the 
first  plays  in  which  Mr.  E.  H.  Sothern  ap- 
peared as  a  star.  In  the  three-act  version 
Sothern  acted  Bill  Lewis,  the  burglar,  and 
Elsie  Leslie  was  Editha. 

Mr.  Dickson,  who  is   now  connected  with 
the  business    staff  of  the  Alhambra  in  Chi- 


198       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

cago,  referred  not  long  ago  to  this  early  ex- 
perience as  a  manager. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  that  was  *  Gus '  Thomas's 
debut  as  a  dramatic  author.     *  Gus  *  was  in 
the  box  office  with  me  at  the  Olympic  in  St. 
Louis,  and  he  managed  to  find  time  during 
the  leisure  moments  when  he  was  not  selling 
tickets  to  scribble  ideas  in  dramatic  form.     He 
read  me  this  little  sketch,  *  Editha's  Burglar/ 
and  asked  me  to  give  it  a  trial.     Right  across 
the  street  from  the  theatre  lived  Delia  Fox, 
daughter  of  a  photographer,  a  precocious  little 
miss,  whose  talents  were  always  in  requisition 
whenever  there  were  any  child's  parts  to  be 
filled  at  the  theatre.     I  used  to  send  over  for 
Delia  whenever  there  was  a  little  part  for  her, 
and   she   was   delighted   to    get   away   from 
school  and  skip  and  trip  before  the  footlights. 
After  '  Gus  '  had  read  the  play  to  me,  he  sug- 
gested that  Delia  should  play  little   Editha, 
and   as  a    result    I  was   induced   to   put  the 
piece  on  with  the  budding  author  in  the  prin- 


Delia  Fox  199 

cipal  role.  It  had  a  certain  sort  of  success, 
and  we  went  on  a  tour,  using  *  The  Burglar  * 
as  a  curtain  raiser  to  another  play  called 
*  Combustion,'  also  from  *  Gus '  Thomas's  pen. 
Later  *  The  Burglar '  was  produced  in  New 
York  as  a  curtain-raiser  to  William  Gillette's 
comedy,  '  The  Great  Pink  Pearl.'  Gillette 
himself  played  the  burglar,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
was  encouraged  to  expand  his  sketch  into 
a  pretentious  three-act  play,  and  it  went  on 
the  road,  making  money  for  the  managers 
and  famiharizing  the  public  with  Augustus 
Thomas's  name." 

Next  came  Miss  Fox's  connection  with  the 
Bennett  and  Moulton  Company,  with  which 
she  appeared  in  the  leading  soprano  roles  of 
all  the  light  operas,  —  *'  Fra  Diavolo,"  ''  The 
Bohemian  Girl,"  "  The  Pirates  of  Penzance," 
''Billie  Taylor,"  '^  The  Mikado,"  and  "The 
Chimes  of  Normandy."  Her  success  with  this 
minor  organization  brought  her  to  the  notice 
of  Heinrich    Conried,  who  was  getting   to- 


200       Prima  Donnas  attd  Soiibrettes 

gether  an  opera  company  to  appear  in  "  The 
King's  Fool."  She  was  given  the  soubrette 
part,  and  created  something  of  a  stir  wherever 
the  opera  was  given  by  her  singing  of  "  Fair 
Columbia,"  one  of  the  most  popular  songs  of 
the  piece.  From  Mr.  Conried  also  she  re- 
ceived about  all  the  real  instruction  in  dra- 
matic art  that  she  had  ever  had.  When  Davis 
and  Locke,  who  had  managed  the  Emma 
Juch  Opera  Company,  decided  to  launch 
DeWolf  Hopper  as  a  star,  they  began  to  look 
about  for  a  small-sized  soubrette  to  act  as  a 
foil  for  Mr.  Hopper's  great  height.  George  W. 
Lederer,  of  the  New  York  Casino,  suggested 
Delia  Fox,  and  accordingly  she  was  engaged 
and  opened  with  Hopper  in  "  Castles  in  the 
Air  "  at  the  Broadway  Theatre,  New  York,  in 
May,  1890. 

Her  success  in  this  larger  field  was  remark- 
able, and  before  the  summer  was  over  she 
was  sharing  the  honors  with  Hopper  and  was 
just  as  strong  a  popular  favorite  as  he.     Her 


Delia  Fox  201 

Blanche  was  a  delightful  creation  throughout, 
but  best  remembered  is  the  "  athletic  duet " 
in  which  she  and  Hopper  gave  amusing  pan- 
tomimic representations  of  games  of  billiards, 
baseball,  and  other  familiar  sports.  Her 
Mataya  in  "  Wang,"  which  was  brought  out  in 
New  York  in  the  summer  of  189 1,  was  another 
triumph.  This  was,  perhaps,  the  most  artis- 
tic of  all  her  roles.  She  was  cute,  impish,  and 
jaunty  in  turn  as  the  Crown  Prince,  and,  in 
addition,  was  a  picture  never  to  be  forgotten 
in  her  perfect  fitting  white  flannel  suit,  worn 
in  the  second  act.  It  was  in  this  act,  too, 
that  she  sang  the  famous  summer-night's 
song,  which  was  whistled  and  hand-organed 
throughout  the  land. 

Next  Miss  Fox  created  the  principal  sou- 
brette  role  in  Mr.  Hopper's  opera  "Panjan- 
drum," in  which  she  continued  to  appear 
until  she  made  her  debut  as  a  star  in  August, 
1894,  at  the  Casino,  New  York,  in  Goodwin 
and    Furst's    opera,  '*  The    Little  Trooper." 


202        Prhna  Domtas  and  Sonhrettes 

Her  first  season  was  extremely  successful. 
The  next  year  she  was  seen  in  "  Fleur-de- 
lis,"  another  Goodwin-Furst  product.  Writ- 
ing of  Miss  Fox  in  this  opera,  Philip  Hale 
said :  — 

**  Disagreeable  qualities  in  the  customary 
performance  of  Miss  Fox  were  not  nearly  so 
much  in  evidence  as  in  some  of  her  other  char- 
acters. She  was  not  so  deliberately  affected, 
she  was  not  so  brazen  in  her  assurance.  Even 
her  vocal  mannerisms  were  not  so  con- 
spicuous. She  almost  played  with  discretion, 
and  often  she  was  delightful.  Her  self- 
introduction  to  her  father  was  one  long  to  be 
remembered.  No  wonder  that  the  audience 
insisted  on  seeing  it  again  and  again.  All 
in  all,  Miss  Fox  appeared  greatly  to  her 
advantage." 

His  criticism  of  the  opera  is  also  interesting : 

"  It  was  March  31,  1885,  that  '  Pervenche,' 

an  operetta,  text  by  Duru  and  Chivot,  music 

by  Audran,  was  first  produced  at  the  Bouffes- 


Delia  Fox  203 

Parisiens.       Mrs.     Thuillier-Leloir    was    the 
Pervenche,  Mauge  the  Count  des  Escarbilles, 
and     Mesnacker    the    Marquis    de    Rosolio. 
The   honors   of  the  evening,  however,  were 
borne  away  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Piccaluga,  who 
were  respectively  Frederick   and    Charlotte. 
The  opera   did  not  please,   and  it  ran  only 
twenty-nine  nights.     Nor  has  it  been  revived. 
"In    the  time  of    Henry  the   Second,  or 
Henry  the  Third,  two  nephews  disputed  the 
right  to  possess    a   castle  in  Touraine    that 
had  belonged  to  their  late  uncle,  who  died 
without  will.      Rosolio   held    the  castle,  and 
Escarbilles  tried  to  dislodge    him.      By  the 
will,  found  eventually,  the  castle  belonged  to 
Rosolio  if  Frederick,  the  son  of  Escarbilles, 
should  marry  Pervenche,  the  natural  daughter 
of  Rosolio. 

"  The  performance  was  in  the  main  poor, 
and  the  music  of  Audran  was  not  distin- 
guished, they  say.  A  romance  of  Frederick, 
a  pastorale  Tyrolienne  sung  by  Charlotte  at 


204       Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

the  end  of  the  second  act,  and  a  duet  of 
menders  of  faience  in  the  third  act,  said  to 
be  the  best  of  the  three,  alone  seemed  worthy 
of  remark. 

*'  So  much  for  *  Pervenche,'  the  Hbretto  of 
which  furnished  the  foundation  for  Mr.  Good- 
win's story  and  songs.  Just  how  far  Mr. 
Goodwin  departed  from  the  situations  fur- 
nished by  Messrs.  Durn  and  Chivot,  I  am 
unable  to  say,  for  I  never  saw  *  Pervenche ' 
nor  its  libretto.  However  much  he  may  be 
indebted,  this  can  be  truly  said :  he  has 
written  an  entertaining  book;  the  plot  is 
coherent,  and  the  situations  laughable.  The 
second  act  is  admirable  throughout.  The 
colossal  effrontery  of  the  starved  Rosolio  in 
the  castle  manned  by  women  disguised  as 
soldiers,  the  reconcihation  of  the  nephews, 
the  exchange  of  reminiscences  of  gay  student 
days  in  Paris,  the  discovery  of  the  imposi- 
tion, and  the  renewed  hostilities,  —  these  are 
amusing    and  well  connected.     Furthermore, 


Delia  Fox  205 

the  audience  at  the  end  of  this  act  realizes 
at  once  the  need  of  a  third  act,  to  clear  up 
matters.  Now  this  is  rare  in  operetta  of  to- 
day. Even  in  the  third  act  the  interest 
never  flags,  although  there  was  one  dreadful 
moment,  when  it  looked  as  though  the  old 
*  Mascotte '  third-act  business  was  to  be  in- 
troduced. Fortunately  the  suspicion  was 
groundless,  and  the  audience  breathed  freer 
and  forgot  its  fears  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
delightful  scenes  between  Des  Escarbilles 
and  the  miller,  and  then  the  ghost. 

"  Not  so  much  can  be  said  in  praise  of  the 
music.  It  is  the  same  old  thing  that  has 
served  in  many  operettas.  There  is  a  jingle, 
there  are  the  inevitable  waltz  tunes  that 
always  sound  alike.  But  the  music  gives  the 
comedians  an  excuse  for  singing  and  dancing. 
It  thus  serves  its  turn  and  is  promptly  for- 
gotten until  another  operetta  comes,  and  the 
hearer  has  a  vague  impression  that  he  has 
heard  the  tunes  before." 


2o6       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubreites 

"The  Wedding  Day/'  with  Delia  Fox, 
Lillian  Russell,  and  Jefferson  De  Angelis  in 
the  cast,  was  brought  out  in  the  fall  of 
1897,  and  it  revived  to  a  degree  old-time 
memories  of  players  at  the  Casino.  The 
opera  itself  proved  to  be  of  an  order  of  merit 
recalling  "  Falka,"  "  The  Merry  War,"  and 
"  Nanon,"  the  like  of  which  had  not  appeared 
for  many,  many  seasons.  The  music  was 
ambitious  without  being  dull,  and  some  of 
the  concerted  numbers  had  genuine  musi- 
cianly  value.  The  story  held  its  interest  fairly 
well,  though  in  spots  it  was  too  complicated, 
and  at  one  point  in  the  third  act  quite  absurd. 
Still  it  was  an  excellent  vehicle  to  display  the 
talents  of  the  so-called  "  triple  alliance  "  of 
comic  opera  stars.  Miss  Fox,  who  had  shown 
a  decided  tendency  toward  stoutness,  had 
trained  down  to  within  hailing  distance  of  her 
former  slender  lithesomeness,  and  she  made  a 
pretty  and  attractive  bride. 

The  following  season  found  Miss  Fox  again 


Delia  Fox  207 

an  individual  star,  this  time  in  **  The  Little 
Host."  Her  last  appearances  in  opera  were 
made  in  this  piece,  for  after  her  season  had 
begun  in  the  fall  of  1899,  she  was  taken 
seriously  ill,  and  for  a  long  time  her  death 
was  expected.  She  recovered  partially,  how- 
ever, after  months  of  illness,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1900  she  appeared  for  a  few  months 
in  vaudeville.  Even  this  labor  proved  too 
much  for  her  strength,  and  her  friends  were 
compelled  to  remove  her  to  a  place  where 
she  might  have  perfect  rest. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

CAMILLE  D'ARVILLE 

Camille  D'Arville,  like  Lillian  Russell, 
Pauline  Hall,  and  Jessie  Bartlett  Davis,  is  one 
of  the  old  guard,  in  American  light  opera. 
She  has  not  appeared  in  opera  for  some  time, 
for  during  the  season  of  1899- 1900  she  fol- 
lowed the  general  inclination  and  went  into 
vaudeville.  From  these  appearances  it  was 
apparent  that  her  voice  was  not  what  it  had 
been  once  —  and  little  wonder  that  it  had  failed, 
when  one  recalls  how  continuously  that  voice 
has  been  in  use  since  the  owner  left  her 
Dutch  home,  forswore  her  own  name  of 
Neeltye  Dykstra,  and  first  learned  to  talk  a 
prettily  accentuated  English.  She  still  had 
in  full  the  power  to  win  an  audience  instantly 
and   completely.     Nor  had  she  lost  to  any 


Camille  UArville  209 

perceptible  degree  her  rare  good  looks.  A 
little  fuller  in  the  figure,  perhaps,  than  she 
was  five  years  ago,  she  carried  herself  with 
the  same  fine  grace  and  perfect  poise  which 
were  of  themselves  an  art. 

Camille  D'Arville  has  temperament,  and 
she  has  style.  It  is  these  two  qualities  par- 
ticularly that  have  brought  her  success  so 
often  in  dashing  cavalier  parts,  parts  which 
require  that  a  woman  shall  act  either  a  man 
or  a  woman  masquerading  as  a  man.  The 
modern  comic  opera  librettist  often  has  but 
one  main  purpose  in  mind,  that  is,  to  get 
his  prima  donna  in  tights  as  soon  after  the 
show  begins  as  possible  and  keep  her  in  them 
as  long  as  practical.  Indeed,  if  one  were 
looking  for  a  practical  way  to  distinguish 
modern  comic  opera  from  extravaganza,  he 
might  find  it  in  this  matter  of  tights.  If  the 
leading  woman  represent  a  woman  disguised 
as  a  man,  she  is  an  operatic  prima  donna;  if, 
on  the  contrary,  she  be  represented  as  a  man 

14 


2IO       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

from  start  to  finish,  she  is  merely  principal 
*'  boy  "  in  extravaganza. 

I  suppose  this  tendency  toward  tights, 
which  is  so  common  as  to  be  almost  a  light- 
opera  conventionality,  is  an  outgrowth  or 
heritage  from  the  old-fashioned  burlesque. 
In  fact,  the  difference  between  the  modern 
comic  opera  and  the  burlesque  of  thirty  years 
ago  is  purely  one  of  degree.  The  relation 
between  the  two  is  similar  to  that  between 
the  variety  show  of  eight  years  ago  and  the 
so-called  ''  fashionable  vaudeville  "  of  to-day. 
Variety  has  been  put  through  what  managers 
of  the  large  circuits  call  a  refining  process. 
There  is  no  denying  that  the  old-style  variety 
show  in  most  of  its  components  was  crude, 
noisy,  and  vulgar,  and  that  its  surroundings 
were  scarcely  favorable  to  the  development 
of  high  art.  But  one  was  always  sure  of  find- 
ing vigor  and  life  —  plenty  of  both  —  in  the 
old-time  varieties,  and  there  were  oftentimes 
spontaneity  and  humor  —  rude  and  bucolic, 


Camille  D'Arville  211 

perhaps,  but  real,  just  the  same  —  which  one 
is  not  sure  of  meeting  in  the  latter-day  enter- 
tainments so  carefully  prepared  for  the  men- 
tally delicate  and  sensitive. 

Modern  comic  opera  has  adopted  in  a 
modified  and  refined  form  the  chief  charac- 
teristics—  one  of  them  the  woman  in  tights 
and  another  of  them  the  clown  with  his  per- 
functory low  comedy  —  of  the  old-fashioned 
burlesque.  Of  course,  the  opera  makes  more 
pretensions  than  did  the  burlesque,  and  musi- 
cally it  is  superficially  superior,  not  neces- 
sarily more  tuneful  but  orchestrated  with 
more  scholarly  skill.  Stage  pageantry  to- 
day is  also  much  further  developed,  and 
spectacular  effects  are  far  more  elaborate. 
The  costuming  is  richer  and  more  tasteful, 
and  the  women  on  the  stage  —  if  not  actually 
younger  and  prettier  —  are  certainly  daintier 
and  more  feminine.  The  girlishness  and 
natural  beauty  of  many  modern  light-opera 
choruses  are  simply  amazing. 


212        Prima  Do?tnas  and  Soiihrettes 

If  we  look  beneath  these  externals,  how- 
ever, we  find  that  the  comic  opera  of  to-day 
is  hardly  an  advance  over  the  burlesque  of 
yesterday.  There  was  good  stuff  in  most  of 
the  old  burlesques.  They  had  original  ideas, 
plenty  of  simple  dramatic  action,  and  some 
genuine  comedy,  but  it  is  seldom  that  one 
finds  any  of  these  three  essentials  in  the 
book  of  the  modern  comic  opera.  Not  for 
ten  years,  I  am  tempted  to  declare,  has  there 
been  written  a  light-opera  libretto  with  suffi- 
cient intrinsic  merit  to  attract  the  public 
attention  without  the  assistance  of  the 
most  magnetic  personalities  surrounded  and 
set  forth  by  the  most  gorgeous  of  stage 
accessories. 

Camille  D'Arville's  cavaliers  —  and  in  re- 
cent years  she  has  not  played  a  part  that  did 
not  require  male  attire  —  are  a  direct  herit- 
age from  the  burlesque  stage.  When  Camille 
d'Arville  becomes  a  man,  she  makes  the 
change  from  petticoats  without  the  slightest 


Camille  UArville  213 

show  of  self-consciousness.  I  heard  her  once 
termed  the  most  modest  woman  In  tights  on 
the  stage.  That  was  simply  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  her  complete  effacement  of  the 
personal  equation.  Yet  her  individuality  was 
not  at  all  diminished,  her  presence  was  in- 
spiring, and  her  acting  both  vivacious  and 
forceful. 

Camille  D'ArvIUe  was  born  in  1863  in  the 
village  of  Oldmarck,  Province  of  Overyseel, 
Holland,  and  came  of  a  family  that  had 
never  shown  any  theatrical  or  especial  musi- 
cal talent.  When  she  was  twelve  years  old, 
her  voice  gave  promise  of  developing  Into 
something  more  than  the  ordinary,  and  she 
was  sent  to  the  Conservatory  at  Amsterdam 
for  instruction.  Here  she  made  her  first 
appearance  in  concert  in  1877.  Later  she 
went  to  Vienna,  where  she  received  further 
instruction,  and  also  made  a  successful  ap- 
pearance in  a  one-act  operetta. 

"  I  was  a  big  girl  fourteen  or  fifteen  years 


214       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

old  before  I  saw  other  lands  than  my  own 
Holland,"  remarked  Miss  D'Arville,  "and 
after  I  left  Amsterdam  I  was  on  the  Conti- 
nent and  in  England  for  a  long  time  before  I 
returned  home.  I  still  claim  Holland  as  my 
birthright,  however,  and  I  do  not  want  to  be 
called  anything  but  Dutch.  If  I  have  a  trace 
of  French  accent  in  speaking  Enghsh,  as 
some  claim,  it  is  not  my  fault. 

"  But,  do  you  know,"  she  continued,  **  if 
it  were  purely  a  matter  of  inclination,  I  think 
I  should  much  rather  be  an  actress  than  to 
be  a  singer.  Of  course,  I  love  music,  but 
what  can  be  more  gratifying  than  to  portray 
the  heroines  of  Shakespeare  and  other  great 
dramatists?  But  my  natural  endowment  as 
a  singer  led  me  toward  the  operatic  career. 
In  opera  I  prefer  a  strong  dramatic  role,  a 
part  which  has  only  one  grand  song  if  it 
afford  plenty  of  opportunity  for  acting. 

"When  did  I  first  sing  in  public?  Oh,  I 
can't   remember  that.     I    appeared    in   con- 


Camille  U Arville  215 

certs  in  Amsterdam  when  I  was  a  girl,  and 
by  the  time  I  entered  my  teens  I  took  part 
in  operatic  performances  given  by  the  Con- 
servatory pupils.  Do  you  mean  when  did  I 
make  my  real  debut  in  opera?  I  suppose  that 
might  be  said  to  have  occurred  in  March,  1883, 
at  the  Strand  Theatre,  London,  in  an  operetta 
entitled  '  Cymbria,  or  the  Magic  Thimble.' " 

Before  this,  however,  Miss  D'Arville  had 
anything  but  a  pleasant  experience  in  Lon- 
don. She  went  there  under  the  supposition 
that  she  had  been  engaged  to  sing  in  opera. 
The  managerial  promise  she  found  to  be 
worthless,  and  she  had  to  be  satisfied  with  a 
chance  to  earn  a  little  money  in  a  music  hall. 
It  was  after  several  months  of  the  most 
uncongenial  toil  that  she  finally  gained 
recognition  in  "  Cymbria." 

'*  Harry  Paulton  was  responsible  for  that 
appearance,"  continued  Miss  D'Arville.  *'  He 
heard  me  sing,  and  under  his  tuition  I  learned 
the  words  of  the  opera  and  sung  them  before 


2i6        Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

I  understood  their  meaning.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  I  could  speak  English  fairly- 
well.  The  Dutch,  you  know,  are  famous 
linguists. 

"  In  October  of  the  same  year  I  created 
the  part  of  Gabrielle  Chevrette  in  '  La  Vie,' 
an  adaptation  by  H.  B.  Farnie  of  Offenbach's 
*  La  Vie  Parisienne.'  The  critics  spoke  very 
kindly  of  me  then,  but  were  much  more  gener- 
ous in  their  praises  when  during  the  follow- 
ing spring  I  appeared  as  Fredegonda  in  a 
revival  of  M.  Herve's  *  Chilperic*  given  at  the 
Empire  Theatre.  Perhaps  chief  among  my 
early  successes  was  in  '  Rip  Van  Winkle.'  I 
succeeded  Miss  Sadie  Martinot  in  the  leading 
soprano  part,  and  sang  it  until  the  end  of  the 
opera's  long  run.  Fred  Leslie  was  the  Rip 
Van  Winkle,  and  very  fine  he  was,  too.  It 
was  a  pity  he  afterward  became  so  thoroughly 
identified  with  burlesque." 

It  was  at  the  time  of  her  first  appearance  in 
opera  in  England  that  the  singer  adopted  the 


Camille  UArville  217 

name  of  Camille  D'Arville.     It  was  chosen  for 

euphony  only,  and  had  no  significance  what- 
ever. 

After  her  success  in  "  Rip  Van  Winkle " 
Miss  D'Arville  toured  the  English  province 
with  '' Falka,"  and  in  1887  returned  to  Lon- 
don to  play  in  "■  Mynheer  Jan."  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  engagement  at  the  Gaiety 
Theatre,  and  her  position  in  London  seemed 
established,  when  a  quarrel  with  the  manage- 
ment caused  her  to  break  her  contract  and  she 
appeared  at  another  theatre  in  the  title  role 
of  ''  Babette." 

Miss  D'Arville  first  came  to  this  country 
in  the  spring  of  1888,  being  under  engage- 
ment to  J.  C.  Duff;  and  her  first  appearance 
here  was  made  in  New  York  in  April  in  "  The 
Queen's  Mate  "  in  the  cast  with  Lillian  Rus- 
sell. In  the  fall  Miss  D'Arville  returned  to 
London,  where  she  appeared  in  *'  Carina,"  in 
which  piece  her  charming  archness  was  a 
feature.     The  Carl  Rosa  Company  then  en- 


2i8        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

gaged  her  to  take  the  part  of  Yvonne  in 
"  Paul  Jones,"  in  which  Agnes  Huntington 
as  the  hero  had  taken  the  city  by  storm. 
With  the  same  company  she  also  created  the 
title  role  in  "  Marjorie,"  which  also  enjoyed 
a  long  run.  During  the  summer  of  1889 
Miss  D'Arville  became  connected  with  the 
New  York  Casino,  appearing  in  ''  La  Fille  de 
Madame  Angot,"  "  The  Grand  Duchess,"  and 
*'  Poor  Jonathan."  Back  to  London  she  hied 
herself  once  more,  and  for  a  time  was  heard 
at  the  Trocadero  and  Pavilion.  Then  she  re- 
turned to  the  United  States,  and  joined  the 
Bostonians,  with  whom  she  sang  Arline  in 
"  The  Bohemian  Girl,"  Maid  Marion  in  '^  Robin 
Hood,"  and  Katherine  in  a  revival  of  *'  The 
Mascotte."  She  was  probably  the  most  satis- 
factory Maid  Marion,  all  things  considered, 
that  ever  sang  the  part.  Certainly  she  was 
better  as  an  actress  than  Marie  Stone,  who 
had  previously  taken  the  role,  and  she  was 
physically  better  fitted  to  the  character  than 


Camille  UAvville  219 

Alice  Nielsen.  Critics,  who  up  to  that  time 
had  not  been  entirely  satisfied  with  Miss 
D'Arville,  claiming  that  her  vocal  method 
was  bad  and  her  acting  oftentimes  crude  and 
meaningless,  found  her  work  in  '^  Robin 
Hood  "  very  much  to  their  taste. 

**  As  a  singer  she  has  improved  during  the 
past  year,"  said  one.  "  Her  tones  are  purer; 
she  uses  her  voice  with  more  discretion ;  and 
she  has  discovered  that  a  scream  is  not 
synonymous  with  forte.  She  is  vivacious ; 
she  lends  a  dramatic  interest  that  has  been 
sadly  lacking  in  former  performances  of  this 
company,  when  the  members  were  too  apt  to 
mistake  the  audience  for  a  congregation  and 
the  stage  for  a  choir  loft.  She  is  fair  to  look 
upon,  and  yet  she  does  not  strive  to  monopo- 
lize attention." 

After  quitting  the  Bostonians  Miss  D'Arville 
starred  in  Edward  E.  Rice's  spectacular  pro- 
duction of  the  extravaganza  *'  Venus,"  which 
was  first  acted  in  Boston  in  September,  1893. 


220        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

Her  dashing  Prince  Kam,  that  imaginary 
Thibetian  potentate,  who,  finding  no  earthly 
beauty  that  satisfied  his  ideal,  journeyed  to 
Mars,  where  he  succeeded  in  winning  the 
love  of  Venus  herself,  was  a  thoroughly  de- 
lightful characterization. 

"  A  Daughter  of  the  Revolution,"  with 
which  Miss  D'Arville  was  next  identified, 
was  made  over  by  J.  Cheever  Goodwin  and 
Ludwig  Englander  from  a  comic  opera  called 
•'  1776,"  produced  some  ten  years  before  by 
a  German  company  playing  at  the  Thalia 
Theatre  in  New  York.  It  achieved  but 
limited  popularity  at  that  time,  but  in  its 
revised  form  it  was  an  agreeable,  if  not  ex- 
actly exciting,  entertainment.  It  was  not  an 
ideal  comic  opera,  by  any  means.  Too  much 
of  the  machinery  of  construction  was  left 
visible  for  that.  There  were  two  characters, 
the  dealer  in  military  supplies  and  the  laun- 
dress, so  obviously  dragged  in  simply  because 
the  low-comedy  man   needed   a   foil    and    a 


Camille  UArville  221 

soubrette  to  play  opposite  to  him,  that  one 
looked  to  see  the  marks  of  violence  on  their 
ears.  But  hbrettos  are  hard  things  to  write 
—  they  must  be  or  we  should  certainly  find 
one  now  and  then  that  is  above  reproach  — 
so  one  would  fain  overlook  jarring  circum- 
stances for  the  sake  of  the  tuneful  melodies 
of  the  score  and  the  brisk  action.  Miss 
D'Arville  sang  well,  and  made  an  attractive 
picture  in  her  series  of  becoming  costumes. 

A  starring  tour  in  **  Madeleine ;  or  the 
Magic  Kiss,"  a  comic  opera  of  considerable 
merit  although  it  never  won  more  than  a 
fair  degree  of  popularity,  was  her  next  ven- 
ture, and  then  she  was  engaged  to  create 
the  prima  donna  role  of  Lady  Constance  in 
"  The  Highwayman,"  a  Reginald  DeKoven 
and  Harry  B.  Smith  composition.  A  quarrel 
with  the  management  while  rehearsals  were 
in  progress  caused  her  to  retire  from  the  com- 
pany, however,  and  her  place  was  taken  by 
Hilda  Clark. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MARIE  TEMPEST 

No  better  characterization  of  Marie  Tem- 
pest, that  wonderfully  fascinating  personality 
which  last  appeared  in  this  country  during 
the  season  of  1893-94  in  **The  Algerian," 
have  I  ever  seen  than  that  written  by  Charles 
Frederick  Nirdlinger  and  published  several 
years  ago  in  the  "  Illustrated  American." 

"  Nell  Gwynne  lives  again  in  the  person 
of  Marie  Tempest,"  declared  Mr.  Nirdlinger. 
"From  out  of  a  past  tinkling  with  tuneful 
poesy,  sparkling  with  the  glory  of  palettes 
that  limned  only  beauty  and  grace,  bubbling 
with  the  merriment  and  gallantry  of  gay 
King  Charlie's  court,  there  trips  down  to 
moderns  a  most  convincing  counterfeit  of 
that  piquant  creature.  If  one  may  trust 
imagination's    ear,   little    Tempest    sings   as 


»     ■»        J 


MARIE   TEMPEST. 


«     •     fc     ,  c     c- 


L    i. 


Marie  Tempest  223 

pretty  Nell  did :  in  the  same  tenuous,  uncer- 
tain voice,  with  the  same  captivating  tricks  of 
tone,  the  same  significant  nuances,  and  the 
same  amorous  timbre.  Tempest  talks  just  as 
Nell  did,  and  walks  with  the  same  sturdy- 
stride,  —  there  was  nothing  mincing  about 
Nell,  —  and,  if  one  may  trust  to  fancy's  eye, 
she  looks  just  as  Nell  looked.  I  have  seen 
Nell  a  hundred  times,  and  so  have  you,  dear 
reader.  The  mere  sight  of  that  curt,  pert, 
and  jadish  name  —  Nell  Gwynne  —  calls  up 
that  strangely  alluring  combination  of  feat- 
ures :  the  tip-tilted  nose,  the  pouting  lips,  the 
eyes  of  a  drowsy  Cupid,  the  confident,  impu- 
dent poise  of  the  head.  None  of  them 
fashioned  to  the  taste  of  the  painter  or  sculp- 
tor, but  forming  in  their  unity  a  face  of 
pleasing  witchery. 

"  There  is  no  record  of  Nell's  artistic 
methods,  of  the  school  of  her  mimetic  per- 
formance, or  the  style  of  her  singing.  All 
we  know  of  that  sort  of  thing  we  must  gather 


224       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

from  the  rhymes  and  rhapsodies  of  the  poets. 
Some  of  them  wrote  in  prose,  to  be  sure ;  but 
they  were  poets  for  all  that,  and  poets  are  such 
an  unreliable  lot  when  it  comes  to  judging  such 
a  girl  as  Nell.  If  she  had  any  art,  though,  I  '11 
be  bound  it  was  like  Tempest's.  There  is  but 
one  way  to  be  infinitely  charming  in  the  craft 
of  the  theatre,  —  the  eternal  verities  of  art 
prevent  that  it  should  be  otherwise,  —  and 
whatever  devices  of  mimic  mechanism  Nell 
employed  must  have  been  those  of  her  modern 
congener.  But  she  never  studied  in  Paris, 
some  sceptic  will  say,  and  Tempest  did :  how 
could  Nell  Gwynne  have  mastered  the  light- 
ness of  touch,  the  exquisite  refinement  of 
gesture,  the  infinity  of  significant  byplay  that 
constitute  the  distinctly  Parisian  method  of 
Tempest?  To  that  I  would  answer  that 
Tempest's  method  is  not  distinctly  Parisian, 
that  it  is  not  at  all  Parisian.  She  is  a  delight- 
ful artist,  not  because  of  her  brief  period  of 
Gallic  training,  but  in  spite  of  it. 


Marie  Tempest  225 

"  Elsewhere  I  have  ventured  an  opinion  on 
the  subject  of  what  we  have  been  taught  to 
regard  as  the  French  school  of  comic  opera. 
That  school,  if  we  may  judge  of  its  academic 
principles  and  practices  by  the  performances 
of  some  of  its  most  proficient  graduates,  has 
nothing  in  common  with  the  methods  of 
Tempest.  Wanton  wiles  and  indecent  sug- 
gestion, —  these  are  the  essential  features  of 
that  ridiculously  lauded  French  school ;  kicks 
and  winks  and  oghng  glances,  postures  of 
affected  languor,  and  convincing  feats  of  vi- 
cious sophistication.  Where,  in  all  that,  is  to 
be  found  the  simple  graciousness,  the  dainty, 
delicate,  unobtrusive  art  of  Marie  Tempest? 
To  liken  her  to  the  garish  product  of  that 
French  school  —  as  well  liken  Carot's  sensu- 
ous nymph  of  the  wood  to  Bougereau's  sensual 
nymph  of  the  bath  !  For  my  own  part,  I  don't 
beheve  Tempest  belongs  to  any  school,  or  if 
she  does,  it  Is  a  school  of  which  she  is  at  once 
mistress  and  sole  pupil.     Indeed,  it  may  be 

15 


226       Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

doubted  whether  instruction  and  training  have 
any  considerable  part  in  the  charm  of  such  a 
player.  There  are  women  of  infinitely  better 
method  —  not  manner — of  singing  and  act- 
ing; women  with  whom  nature  has  dealt  far 
more  carefully  and  generously  in  beauty  of 
face  and  figure ;  women  even  in  no  degree 
inferior  to  Tempest  in  innate  allurement. 
But  this  little  Englishwoman,  with  her  svelte 
form  and  her  bewitching  face  of  ugly  features, 
her  tricky  voice  that  makes  one  think  of 
a  thrush  that  has  caught  a  cold,  her  im- 
pertinences and  patronizing  ways  with  her 
audience,  has  about  her  a  vague,  illusive 
something  that  makes  of  her  the  most  fetch- 
ing personality  of  the  comic-opera  stage." 

Marie  Tempest,  whose  real  name  is  Marie 
Etherington,  was  born  in  London  in  1867. 
Her  father  died  while  she  was  a  child,  and  she 
was  educated  abroad  by  her  mother.  Five  or 
six  years  of  her  life  were  spent  in  a  convent 
near  Brussels.     From  there  she  was  sent  to 


Marie  Tempest  227 

Paris  to  finish  her  education,  afterward  going 
to  London,  where  she  became  a  student  at 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Music. 

At  that  time  she  had  no  idea  of  going  upon 
the  stage.  Her  exceptional  musical  talent  at 
once  became  apparent  to  the  professors  at 
the  academy,  notably  Emanuel  Garcia,  who, 
although  then  upward  of  eighty  years  of  age, 
took  the  livehest  interest  in  his  young  pupil. 
Miss  Tempest  worked  so  successfully  with 
Garcia  that  within  eighteen  months  of  her 
entrance  at  the  academy  she  had  carried  off 
from  all  other  competitors  the  bronze,  silver, 
and  gold  medals  representing  the  highest 
rewards  the  academy  could  offer.  She  also 
studied  for  a  time  with  Signor  Randeggor,  in 
London,  and  in  1886  made  her  first  appear- 
ance on  any  stage  at  the  London  Comedy  in 
**  Boccaccio."  It  was  a  small  part  that  she 
played  in  the  London  company  managed  by 
Arthur  Henderson,  and  the  salary  which  she 
received  was  four  pounds  a  week. 


228        Pri7na  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

After  that  she  created  the  soprano  part  in 
an  opera  called  "  The  Fay  o'  Fire  "  at  the 
Opera  Comique,  from  thence  returning  for  a 
few  months  to  the  Comedy  Theatre  to  take 
Florence  St.  John's  place  in  "  Erminie." 
Miss  Tempest  then  took  an  engagement 
with  Augustus  Harris  at  the  Drury  Lane  in 
Hervise's  comic  opera,  '*  FrivoH."  In  1887 
she  joined  Henry  J.  Leslie's  company,  then 
playing  at  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Theatre, 
London,  in  Alfred  CeUier's  opera,  **  Dorothy," 
in  which  she  assumed  the  title  role.  In  this 
part  Miss  Tempest  made  a  very  great  success. 
She  played  in  "  Dorothy  "  for  nearly  nine  hun- 
dred performances  at  the  Prince  of  Wales  and 
Lyric  theatres.  Subsequently  she  appeared 
at  the  Lyric  in  CeUier's  opera  of  "  Doris  " 
and  after  that  in  *'  The  Red  Hussar."  Al- 
though Miss  Tempest  was  engaged  chiefly  in 
light  opera,  during  these  years  she  at  various 
times  undertook  more  serious  work,  fre- 
quently singing  in  oratorio  and  in  the  high- 
class  London  concerts. 


Marie  Tempest  229 

She  came  to  this  country  for  the  first  time 
in  the  spring  of  1890,  appearing  in  New 
York  and  after  on  tour  as  Kitty  Carroll  in 
"  The  Red  Hussar."  Her  success  was  re- 
markable, and  she  at  once  became  an  estab- 
lished favorite.  Although  the  prima  donna 
of  to-day  might  consider  Kitty  Carroll,  with 
only  its  three  changes  of  costume,  from  sol- 
dier to  beggar  girl  and  then  to  heiress,  a 
veritable  sinecure,  Marie  Tempest's  skill  in 
passing  quickly  from  one  character  to  another 
was  ten  years  ago  quite  as  much  commented 
on  as  was  her  unquestionably  artistic  presen- 
tation of  the  triple  roles.  She  also  repeated 
in  this  country  her  London  success  in  "  Dor- 
othy," and  sang  in  "  Carmen  "  as  well. 

Miss  Tempest  was  next  seen  at  the  New 
York  Casino  as  the  successor  to  Lillian  Russell 
and  Pauline  Hall.  In  the  operetta,  "  The  Ty- 
rolean," she  had  a  part  scarcely  equal  to  her 
abilities,  although  the  nightingale  song,  which 
came  in  the  last  act,  was  a  charming  melody 


230       Prima  Donnas  and  Soiibrettes 

and  was  so  delightfully  sung  by  Miss  Tempest 
as  really  to  be  the  feature  of  the  perform- 
ance. In  her  peasant's  dress  Miss  Tempest 
was  the  choicest  of  dainty  morsels,  a  dream 
of  fairylike  loveliness. 

Her  greatest  success  in  this  country,  how- 
ever, was  "  The  Fencing  Master  "  in  which 
the  prima  donna  role  was  peculiarly  suited  to 
her  personality.  This  opera  was  built  around 
the  conceit  of  a  master  of  fencing,  who,  not 
being  blessed  with  a  son  to  succeed  him  in 
his  profession,  brought  up  his  daughter  as  a 
boy,  and  by  severe-  training  made  her  a  most 
expert  user  of  foil  and  sword.  In  this  char- 
acter Miss  Tempest  united  remarkably  well 
boyish  freedom  and  masculine  swagger  with 
feminine  charm  and  ingenuousness,  and  the 
picture  that  she  made  was  one  never  to  be  for- 
gotten. It  was  true,  however,  in  spite  of  her 
great  attractiveness  in  the  part,  that  tights  and 
tunic  did  take  away  a  little  of  that  subtle  be- 
witchery,  which  was  the  root  of  her  wonder- 


Marie  Tempest  231 

ful  wmsomeness  in  "  Dorothy."  It  was  a 
Boston  critic,  I  believe,  who  said  of  her  in 
this  opera,  that  she  suggested  a  Dresden 
china  image  that  had  hopped  down  from  the 
mantel  and  committed  an  indiscretion.  Still 
another,  evidently  a  bit  of  a  china  connois- 
seur himself,  applied  the  fancy  porcelain 
simile  with  far  more  searching  analysis.  *'  She 
reminds  one  of  a  bit  of  Sevres  china,"  he  de- 
clared, "  although  a  pretty  piece  of  Dresden 
would  not  be  an  inappropriate  simile,  espe- 
cially when  she  is  dressed  in  that  picturesquely 
ragged  costume  in  the  first  act.  Sevres  china, 
however,  is  to  an  art  connoisseur  what  truffles 
and  pate-de-foie  gras  are  to  an  accomplished 
epicure."  Whether  she  were  Dresden  china 
or  Sevres  china,  it  mattered  not ;  the  main  fact 
remained  that  a  thoroughly  feminine  woman 
like  Miss  Tempest  needed  the  fuss  and  feathers 
of  feminine  attire  to  bring  out  her  attractions 
in  the  most  effective  way.  That  the  public 
unconsciously  felt  this  was  proven   even  in 


232       Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

"  The  Fencing  Master,"  where  her  appear- 
ance in  the  last  act  in  all  the  glory  of  court 
gown  and  flashing  jewels  was  always  the  sig- 
nal for  the  heartiest  applause. 

In  "The  Algerian,"  by  Reginald  DeKoven 
and  Glen  MacDonough,  which  followed  '*  The 
Fencing  Master,"  being  brought  out  in  Phila- 
delphia in  September,  1893,  Miss  Tempest 
not  only  returned  to  the  garb  of  her  own  sex, 
but  appeared  as  well  in  her  own  auburn  hair 
with  that  tiny  irresistible  curl  hanging  down 
the  middle  of  her  forehead,  just  like  that  of 
the  little  girl  in  the  old  ballad. 

At  the  close  of  the  run  of  this  opera  in 
1894,  Miss  Tempest  returned  to  London. 
Her  greatest  hits  of  recent  years  in  that  city 
have  been  made  as  the  heroine  in  "  The  Ar- 
tist's Model "  and  as  O  Mimosa  San  in  George 
Edwardes's  original  production  of  "  The 
Geisha  "  at  Daly's  Theatre  in  London. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MAUD   RAYMOND 

High  in  the  ranks  of  women  low  come- 
dians who  have  been  graduated  from  the 
variety  theatre  into  musical  comedy  and  ex- 
travaganza, is  Maud  Raymond,  who  fairly 
shares  the  honors  with  the  Rogers  Brothers 
in  their  popular  vaudevilles.  It  would  be 
unfair  to  call  Miss  Raymond  an  actress,  for 
she  does  not  aspire  to  be  anything  more  than 
a  delightful  entertainer,  whose  unusual  mi- 
metic gifts  and  whose  real  or  assumed  sense 
of  humor  led  her  to  adopt  as  the  most  natural 
thing  imaginable  the  serious  calling  of  making 
the  world  laugh. 

With  her  marked  individuality.  Miss  Ray- 
mond drifted  as  a  matter  of  course  into  char- 
acter impersonation.     In  the  days  when  she 


234       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubreites 

entered  the  varieties  three  distinct  types  of 
low-comedy  characterizations  were  recognized 
—  the  Irish,  the  Dutch,  and  the  negro.  The 
first  two  were  genuine  burlesques,  while  the 
last  named  was  the  familiar  minstrel  type,  —  a 
great  deal  of  burnt  cork  and  an  insignificant 
amount  of  genuine  negro.  Miss  Raymond 
selected  the  Dutch  type.  Whether  she  was 
the  first  woman  to  attempt  a  Dutch  character 
sketch,  I  do  not  know,  but  I  am  willing  to 
risk  the  statement  that  she  was  the  best  one. 
An  amazingly  grotesque  figure  she  pre- 
sented, with  her  figure  built  on  the  Hues  of  a 
meal  sack  with  a  string  tied  around  the  middle, 
and  her  huge  sabots  that  clattered  noisily 
every  step  she  took.  Her  face  was  a  study 
in  ponderous  stupidity,  and  her  movements 
were  slow  and  unwieldy.  Yet,  with  all  its 
grotesqueness,  its  mammoth  exaggerations, 
there  was  human  nature  in  the  sketch  and 
rich,  full-blooded  humor,  the  brutal,  coarse 
humor  of  the  soil,  humor  that  had  not  been 


Maud  Raymond  235 

refined  into  flavorless  delicacy  nor  polished 
into  insipidness  for  the  moral  salvation  of  too 
easily  shocked  tenderlings. 

When  the  "  coon  "  craze  struck  the  stage, 
Miss  Raymond  was  among  the  first  to  take 
that  up,  and  she  has  clung  faithfully  to  it  ever 
since.  Like  all  her  work,  her  interpretation 
of  the  modern  ''  coon"  song  is  all  her  own. 
She  does  not  reproduce  so  fantastically  as 
some  others  the  antics  of  the  swell  cake- 
walker,  but  she  infuses  into  her  work  a  rich 
humor  that  is  infectious.  In  this  one  particu- 
lar she  resembles  closely  Miss  May  Irwin. 
May  Irwin's  "  coon,"  however,  is  the  Southern 
**  mammy "  type,  while  Maud  Raymond's  is 
of  Northern  city  birth  and  training.  In  this 
aspect  of  her  "  coon  "  art,  Miss  Raymond 
seems  nearer  the  progenitor  of  the  up-to-date 
stage  negro,  who  was,  of  course,  the  "  nigger  " 
minstrel  of  a  number  of  decades  ago. 

Miss  Raymond's  method  was  capitally 
illustrated  in  the  song  "  I  thought  that  he  had 


236       Prima  Donnas  and  Sonbreties 

Money  in  the  Bank,"  which  was  introduced  in 
"  The  Rogers  Brothers  in  Wall  Street"  dur- 
ing the  season  of  1 899-1900.  Her  dialect 
was  by  no  means  extraordinary.  It  had  not 
the  darky  softness  and  twang,  which  one 
finds  for  instance  so  faithfully  reproduced  by 
Artie  Hall.  Miss  Raymond,  however,  got  a 
curious  comic  effect  by  twisting  her  words 
out  of  the  corner  of  her  mouth  in  a  manner 
indescribable,  by  hunching  up  her  shoulders, 
one  a  little  higher  than  the  other,  thrusting 
her  head  forward,  crooking  her  elbows,  and 
letting  her  hands  hang  loose  and  lifeless  as 
if  they  had  been  broken  at  the  wrists. 

After  seeing  Miss  Raymond's  inimitable 
Dutch  woman,  I  carried  away  the  impression 
that  she  herself  inclined  toward  embonpoint, 
—  that  she  was  grossly  notoriously  fat,  in  fact. 
Later  observations,  however,  have  caused  me 
to  revise  that  impression.  Miss  Raymond  is 
not  fat,  merely  comfortably  plump.  She  is  a 
decided  brunette  with   rather  irregular  feat- 


Maud  Raymond  237 

ures,  but  features  none  the  less  attractive  for 
that,  snapping  black  eyes  that  seem  always 
to  sparkle  with  irrepressible  merriment,  and 
an  inexhaustible  amount  of  vivacity.  Viva- 
city may,  indeed,  be  said  to  be  her  specialty. 
It  is  always  in  evidence,  and  yet  it  never  runs 
riot  and  it  never  becomes  wearisome. 

Miss  Raymond  has  been  a  vaudeville 
feature  for  the  past  twelve  years.  She  made 
her  first  appearance  with  Rice  and  Barton's 
company,  and  afterward  played  two  years 
with  Harry  Williams's  Own  Company.  Her 
next  appearance  was  in  the  soubrette  part  in 
"  Bill's  Boot,"  in  which  Joe  J.  Sullivan  starred. 
She  then  joined  Irwin  Brothers'  Company,  in 
which  she  sang  with  great  success.  She 
spent  several  weeks  in  the  Howard  Athenaeum 
Company  when  it  was  under  James  J.  Arm- 
strong's management,  and  finished  the  season 
with  Fields  and  Hanson, 

Miss  Raymond  was  specially  engaged  to 
play  the  soubrette  role  in  Bolivar  in  Donnelly 


238        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

and  Girard's  *'  The  Rainmakers."  Those 
popular  stars  declared  that  the  part  had 
never  been  so  well  done  as  it  was  by  Miss 
Raymond,  but  she  was  obliged  to  retire  at 
the  end  of  the  season  on  account  of  illness. 
During  the  summer  she  appeared  on  the  roof 
gardens  and  in  the  continuous  houses.  She 
joined  Tony  Pastor's  company  in  the  early 
fall,  and  played  a  season  of  fifteen  weeks  with 
that  organization,  meeting  with  great  success. 

When  the  Rogers  Brothers  began  starring 
with  "  The  Reign  of  Error "  in  the  fall  of 
1898,  she  was  made  a  prominent  feature  of 
their  company,  and  she  continued  with  them 
as  their  leading  support  the  following  season 
in  *'  The  Rogers  Brothers  in  Wall  Street." 

She  is  also  the  wife  of  one  of  the  brothers, 
though  whether  of  Max  or  Gus  I  never  can 
remember. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

PAULINE   HALL 

A  VERY  remarkable  woman  is  Pauline  Hall, 
whose  stage  career  of  twenty-five  years  en- 
compasses every  experience  possible  in  light 
opera  in  this  country.  Miss  Hall  began  as 
a  dancer.  She  spent  her  apprenticeship  in 
the  chorus.  She  sang  inconsequential  roles 
in  opera,  and  she  acted  small  parts  in  drama. 
She  had  her  season  in  burlesque.  She  was 
for  years  the  foremost  figure  in  the  best  light- 
opera  organization  this  country  has  ever 
known.  She  has  starred,  and  she  is  to-day 
a  better  singer  than  the  majority  of  her 
youthful  contemporaries,  a  better  actress 
than  all  except  a  very  few  of  them,  and  a 
more  satisfactory  all-around  artist  —  if  the 
expression  be  permissible  —  than  any  of 
them. 


240       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

When  I  heard  her  sing  with  Francis  Wilson 
in  ''  Cyrano  de  Bergerac  "  —  about  the  stupid- 
est opera,  by  the  way,  ever  produced  —  and 
in  ''  Erminie  "  in  the  spring  of  1900,  I  was 
amazed ;  her  voice  was  in  splendid  condition, 
certainly  better  than  it  had  been  five  years 
before,  true  in  tone,  clear,  and  without  huski- 
ness.  It  showed  its  wear  only  in  the  loss  of 
the  richness  and  sweetness  —  the  music,  one 
might  say  —  of  the  old  Casino  days.  In 
figure  Miss  Hall  was  trim  and  youthful.  Her 
face  was  plump  and  rounded  like  a  girl's. 
Her  hair,  cut  short  for  boys'  parts  and 
coquettishly  curled,  retained  its  dark,  almost 
black,  hue,  while  her  eyes  —  wonderfully 
handsome  they  always  were  —  snapped  and 
sparkled  like  a  debutante's. 

Pauline  Hall's  fame  reached  its  height  dur- 
ing the  long  run  of  "  Erminie  "  at  the  New 
York  Casino.  She  was  the  originator  of  the 
role  of  the  Erminie,  and  she  sang  in  the 
opera  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  country. 


Pauline  Hall  241 

She  was  —  and  is  still,  for  that  matter —  one 
of  the  finest  formed  women  on  the  American 
stage,  and  her  stately  manner  and  graceful 
demeanor  gained  for  her  the  sobriquet  so 
commonly  associated  with  her  name  —  statu- 
esque. During  her  subsequent  starring  career 
Miss  Hall  continued  a  popular  favorite,  al- 
though she  was  not  consistently  successful  in 
obtaining  operas  of  notable  merito  **  Puri- 
tania  "  met  with  excellent  success,  but  **  The 
Honeymooners  "  and  **  Dorcas  "  were  neither 
of  them  strong  enough  to  make  any  lasting 
impression.  They  were  both  of  the  familiar 
''  prima  donna  in  tights "  type,  and  their 
librettos  were  without  striking  originality, 
and  their  scores  showed  only  commonplace 
tunefulness. 

In  spite  of  this  handicap  Miss  Hall  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  —  largely  through  the 
force  of  her  personality  and  art  —  her  place 
among   the   foremost   in  light  opera  in   this 

country.     During  the   season  of   1899- 1900 

16 


242        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

she  most  happily  again  became  associated 
with  Francis  Wilson,  who  is  also  an  "  Er- 
minie  "  product.  Miss  Hall,  with  her  renewed 
youth  and  her  years  of  experience,  at  once 
took  a  position  in  Wilson's  company,  second 
only  to  the  star.  In  **  Cyrano "  she  made 
Christian  —  a  barren  and  sterile  character  — 
vigorous,  picturesque,  and  attractive,  while 
her  Princess  in  "  Erminie,"  barring  the  loss 
of  vocal  mellowness  already  referred  to,  was 
stronger  than  it  was  a  dozen  years  ago. 

Pauline  Hall's  active  life  on  the  stage 
began  when  she  was  about  fifteen  years  old. 
She  was  born  in  Cincinnati  about  i860  in 
rather  humble  quarters  in  the  rear  of  her 
father's  apothecary  shop  on  Seventh  Street. 
She  bore  the  somewhat  formidable  and  de- 
cidedly German  name  of  Pauline  Fredericka 
Schmidgall,  until  she  adopted  the  simple  and 
harmonious  stage  name  of  Pauline  Hall. 

It  was  in  1875,  at  Robinson's  Opera  Housp 
in    Cincinnati,   under    the    management    of 


Pauline  Hall  243 

Colonel  R.  E.  J.  Miles,  that  Miss  Hall  made 
her  first  appearance  on  the  stage.  She  be- 
gan at  the  very  bottom  of  the  ladder,  an 
*'  extra  girl "  in  the  chorus  and  a  dancer  in 
the  ballet.  Next  she  journeyed  to  the  Grand 
Opera  House  in  the  same  city,  a  theatre 
which  was  also  under  Colonel  Miles's  man- 
agement, where  she  remained  until  the  versa- 
tile Mr.  Miles  organized  and  put  on  the  road 
his  *'  America's  Racing  Association  and  Hip- 
podrome," a  circus-like  enterprise.  She  was 
made  a  feature  in  the  street  parade  tableaux 
of  Mazeppa  used  to  advertise  the  attraction, 
and  a  very  effective  figure  she  must  have 
been,  too,  for  she  was  a  handsome  girl  and 
a  picture  of  physical  perfection.  Besides 
luring  the  public  to  the  show.  Miss  Hall  en- 
tertained it  after  it  got  there  by  driving  a 
Roman  chariot  in  the  races. 

After  a  summer  of  this  exciting  work  Miss 
Hall  returned  to  the  theatre  as  a  member  of 
the  chorus  of  the  Alice  Gates  Opera  Com- 


244        Prima  Don7ias  and  Soubrettes 

pany,  which  was  at  that  time  making  a  West- 
ern tour  under  the  management  of  the  same 
Colonel  Miles.  Alice  Oates  was  then  in  her 
prime,  and  the  most  popular  operatic  star  in 
the  country.  She  was  born  in  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  and  educated  in  Louisville.  When 
she  was  nineteen  years  old  she  made  her 
debut  in  Chicago  in  the  Darnley  burlesque, 
''The  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold."  She 
sang  in  "  The  Little  Duke,"  ''  The  Mascotte," 
"  The  Pretty  Perfumer,"  *'  The  Princess  of 
Trebizonde,"  **  The  Grand  Duchess,"  and 
"  Olivette,"  and  was  one  of  the  first  of  the 
many  Ralph  Rackstraws  in  "  Pinafore "  in 
this  country.  She  died  in  Philadelphia  on 
January  ii,  1887,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty- 
seven  years.  She  was  small  of  figure  and 
pretty  of  face,  unusually  so  off"  the  stage  and 
dazzlingly  so  on  the  stage.  Her  voice  was 
of  rare  compass  and  sympathetic  in  tone, 
and  her  acting  was  vivacious,  dashing,  and 
hearty. 


Pauline  Hall  245 

After  leaving  the  Alice  Oates  Company, 
small  parts  in  Samuel  Colville  Folly  com- 
pany gave  Miss  Hall  a  slight  advance  in  the 
theatrical  world,  and  then  she  made  her  first 
and  only  appearance  in  the  "  legitimate." 
She  joined  Mary  Anderson's  company,  and 
for  three  or  four  months  acted  minor  char- 
acters in  the  plays  of  Miss  Anderson's  rep- 
ertory, which  at  that  time  was  somewhat 
limited.  Among  Miss  Hall's  parts  were 
Lady  Capulet  in  **  Romeo  and  Juliet "  and 
the  Widow  Melnotte  in  Lord  Bulwer  Lytton's 
stilted  melodrama,  *'  The  Lady  of  Lyons." 

In  1880,  Miss  Hall  first  began  to  be  noticed 
by  professional  discoverers  of  stage  talent. 
She  was  then  a  member  of  Edward  E.  Rice's 
*'  Surprise  Party,"  with  which  she  appeared 
in  ''Horrors"  and  "Revels."  Next,  in  Rice's 
greatest  success,  **  Evangeline,"  Miss  Hall 
played  Gabrielle  and  even  Hans  Wagner, 
being  the  first  woman  to  try  the  droll  char- 
acter.    In  the    fall  of    1882    she  went    on  a 


246        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

tour  with  J.  H.  Haverly's  "Merry  War" 
company,  and  sang  the  part  of  Elsa.  With 
Haverly  she  also  appeared  in  "  Patience." 
Following  this  engagement  she  rejoined  Mr. 
Rice's  forces,  and  on  December  i,  1883, 
opened  with  his  company  at  the  Bijou  Opera 
House,  New  York,  where  she  created  the 
part  of  Venus  in  **  Orpheus  and  Eurydice." 
She  was  a  success  from  the  start,  and  con- 
tinued with  Mr.  Rice  until  the  close  of  the 
run  of  the  burlesque  on  March  15  of  the 
following  year,  when  she  went  with  the  com- 
pany, under  the  management  of  Miles  and 
Barton,  on  the  road. 

On  her  return  to  New  York,  Miss  Hall 
again  appeared  at  the  Bijou,  on  May  6,  1884, 
as  Hasson  in  a  revival  of  "  Blue  Beard,"  fol- 
lowing this  with  another  road  experience 
that  lasted  until  July.  In  August  she  began 
an  engagement  at  Niblo's  Garden,  New  York, 
as  Loresoul  in  Poole  and  Gilmour's  spectacu- 
lar production  of  "  The  Seven  Ravens."     The 


Pauline  Hall  247 

part  was  a  singing  one,  and  Miss  Hall  added 
considerably  to  her  popularity  among  the 
frequenters  of  the  burlesque  shows  that  were 
so  largely  patronized  in  those  days.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1885,  Miss  Hall  was  in  the  title  role  of 
**  Ixion  "  at  the  Comedy  Theatre,  New  York, 
though  only  for  a  short  time,  and  on  April  4 
she  made  her  first  appearance  in  a  German 
speaking  part,  singing  Prince  Orloffsky  in 
*'  Die  Fiedermaus"  at  the  ThaHa  Theatre. 

On  May  25  Miss  Hall  opened  with  Nat  C. 
Goodwin  at  the  Park  Theatre,  Boston,  and 
created  the  character  of  Oberon  in  the 
travesty  "Bottom's  Dream."  This  was  a 
failure,  and  in  a  few  weeks  Miss  Hall  returned 
to  New  York,  where  she  signed  with  Rudolph 
Aronson  of  the  Casino,  making  her  first 
appearance  as  Ninon  de  1'  Enclos  in  the 
English  presentation  of  ''  Nanon."  She  did 
well  with  the  part,  and  further  increased  the 
favorable  impression  that  she  had  made  by 
her  Angelo  in  *'  Amorita  "  and  her  Saffi  in 


248        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

'*  The  Gipsy  Baron."  Next  came  **  Erminie," 
which  achieved  a  success  as  yet  unequalled 
by  any  light  opera  in  this  country  unless  it 
be  '*  Robin  Hood."  The  successor  to  "  Ermi- 
nie "  was  *'  Nadjy,"  also  a  famous  hit,  in 
which,  however.  Miss  Hall's  part  of  the  Prin- 
cess Etelka  was  overshadowed  by  the  char- 
acter of  Nadjy,  the  dancer,  so  captivatingly 
played  by  Marie  Jansen  in  the  original  pro- 
duction. After  "  Nadjy  "  came  ''  The  Drum 
Major,"  which  failed,  however,  to  make  any 
lasting  impression. 

After  leaving  the  Casino  Miss  Hall  began 
her  career  as  a  star,  appearing  in  "  Puritania." 
This  was  followed  the  next  year  by  *'  Amorita" 
and  *'  Madame  Favart,"  while  *'  Puritania " 
was  retained  in  her  repertory.  The  season 
succeeding  she  brought  out  "  The  Honey- 
mooners."  During  1894-95  her  operas  were 
"  La  Belle  Helene,"  a  revival  of  "  The  Chimes 
of  Normandy,"  and  "  Dorcas."  She  then 
retired  from  the  stage  for  a  while,  and  after- 


Paulhie  Hall  249 

ward  appeared  in  vaudeville  until  she  joined 
Francis  Wilson. 

**  Puritania,  or  the  Earl  and  the  Maid  of 
Salem,"  the  best  known  and  most  successful 
of  all  her  operas,  was  produced  in  Boston  in 
the  summer  of  1892.  The  opera  was  written 
by  C.  M.  S.  McLellan,  and  Edgar  Stillman 
Kelley  was  responsible  for  the  music.  The 
story  of  the  opera  was  decidedly  attractive. 
The  action  began  in  Salem.  Elizabeth,  a  fair 
young  miss  of  the  town,  had  been  accused  of 
being  a  witch  by  Abigail,  a  confirmed  woman- 
hater.  Elizabeth  was  tried  by  the  local 
tribunal  and  was  condemned,  chiefly  because 
she  had  refused  to  wed  Jonathan  Blaze,  the 
chief  justice  of  the  court.  Just  as  the  sentence 
was  pronounced  an  English  ship  arrived  in 
the  harbor,  and  Vivian,  Earl  of  Barrenlands, 
came  ashore.  He  rescued  Ehzabeth  from 
the  mob,  and  captivated  by  her  beauty  pro- 
ceeded to  make  love  to  her.  Nothing  would 
do  but  he  must  take  her  back  to  England 


250        Prima  Donnas  and  Sonbrettes 

with  him.  Smith,  the  Witch-finder-general 
to  his  Majesty  Charles  II.,  was  indignant 
because  Vivian  had  won  the  girl,  and  threat- 
ened to  expose  her  as  a  witch  to  the  king. 

The  second  act  took  place  in  a  subterranean 
chamber  under  the  king's  palace,  where 
Killsin  Burgess,  a  conspirator,  was  plotting 
after  the  Guy  Fawkes  fashion  to  blow  up 
everything.  So  deeply  did  he  meditate  on 
divers  plots  and  treasons,  that  he  fell  asleep, 
lighted  pipe  in  mouth  and  seated  on  a  keg  of 
gunpowder.  The  next  scene  showed  the 
palace  where  King  Charles  had  just  bestowed 
his  favor  on  Vivian  and  the  future  Countess 
of  Barrenlands.  Smith  entered  with  Blaze 
and  Abigail,  and  the  trio  denounced  Elizabeth 
as  a  witch.  Elizabeth,  driven  half  mad  by 
their  false  accusations,  mockingly  declared 
that  she  was  a  witch,  and  proceeded  to 
"■  weave  a  spell."  She  summoned  Asmo- 
deus,  the  Prince  of  Eternal  Darkness,  to 
appear.     A  loud   report  was   heard,  and   the 


Pauline  Hall  251 

form  of  Burgess  was  hurled  through  the  air. 
The  sparks  from  his  pipe  had  ignited  the  keg 
of  powder  which  exploded  just  as  Ehzabeth 
was  pretending  to  display  her  powers.  Of 
course,  EHzabeth  was  condemned  by  the  king 
on  \h\s  prima  facie  evidence;  but  Burgess, 
recognizing  her  as  his  daughter,  confessed  his 
conspiracy  against  the  king,  and  all  ended 
happily. 

Miss  Hall  gave  the  opera  a  first-class  pro- 
duction, a  fine  cast,  and  handsome  scenery. 
Louise  Beaudet  acted  Elizabeth,  and  grace- 
ful and  charming  she  was,  too.  Miss  Hall 
herself  played  Vivian.  Frederic  Solomon 
was  the  original  Witch-finder-general,  and 
his  conception  of  the  character  was  thor- 
oughly original.  Jacques  Kruger  as  the  Judge, 
Eva  Davenport  as  Abigail,  John  Brand  as  the 
King,  and  Alf.  Wheelan  as  the  Conspirator 
were  all  happily  chosen.  The  opera  ran  in 
Boston  from  June  until  September.  Then 
Miss  Hall  took  the  opera  on  the  road  for  a 


252        Prima  DoJinas  and  Soitbrettes 

season.  '*  Puritania  "  was  tuneful  and  bright 
in  action.  The  dialogue  was  often  sparkHng, 
the  fun  was  spontaneous,  and  the  three 
comedians  had  parts  which  had  the  added 
value  of  being  characters.  Vivian  was  admir- 
ably suited  to  Miss  Hall's  talents.  Her  songs 
were  given  with  spirit,  her  acting  had  that 
freedom  so  characteristic  of  her  **  boys," 
while  her  costumes  were  pictorially  gorgeous. 
Miss  Hall's  first  husband  was  Edward 
White,  whom  she  met  in  San  Francisco  in 
1878,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mining  enter- 
prises. They  were  married  in  St.  Louis  in 
February,  1881.  Eight  years  later  Miss  Hall 
secured  a  divorce  from  Mr.  White,  and  in 
1 89 1  she  was  married  to  George  B.  McLellan> 
the  manager  of  her  company. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

HILDA   CLARK 

The  divine  gift  of  song  has  placed  Hilda 
Clark,  whose  ability  as  an  actress  is  by  no 
means  great,  in  a  position  of  prominence  in 
the  theatrical  world.  She  went  on  the  stage 
because  she  could  sing,  and  did  not  learn  to 
sing  because  she  was  on  the  stage;  and, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  there  is,  always  has 
been,  and  always  will  be  a  demand  for  at- 
tractive young  women  with  pleasing  singing 
voices,  she  has  had  her  fair  measure  of  success. 
Miss  Clark  has  also  the  added  charm  of 
more  than  ordinary  physical  attractiveness. 
She  is  a  blonde  of  prettily  irregular  features. 
Her  personality  is  winning  rather  than 
compelling,  and  her  stage  presence  is  good, 
though  there  are  times  when  this  would  have 


254       Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

been  improved  by  more  bodily  grace  and 
freedom.  Byron,  who  hated  a  *'  dumpy 
woman,"  would  have  found  Miss  Clark 
"  divinely  tall  and  most  divinely  fair,"  but 
very  likely  he  would  have  advised  her  to 
take  a  mild  course  in  calisthenics  in  order 
to  acquire  conscious  control  of  a  somewhat 
unruly  physique. 

Hilda  Clark  comes  of  an  old  Southern 
family,  several  of  whose  members  won 
military  distinction.  An  ancestor  of  hers, 
Colonel  Winston,  was  awarded  a  sword  by 
Congress  for  his  services  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  Her  great-grandfather,  Gen- 
eral Winston,  was  distinguished  in  the  war 
of  1 812,  while  several  of  her  relatives  were 
noted  for  gallantry  during  the  Civil  War. 
Miss  Clark  was  born  in  Leavenworth,  Kan- 
sas, in  the  early  seventies.  When  her 
father,  who  was  a  banker,  died,  the  family 
removed  to  Boston,  where  Miss  Clark  was 
educated.      As    she    grew   into  womanhood, 


Hilda  Clark  255 

her  voice  attracted  the  attention  of  her 
friends,  and  by  their  advice  she  went  to 
Europe,  where  she  studied  music  for  two 
years.  On  her  return  to  this  country  she 
became  the  soprano  of  St.  Mark's  Church 
in  New  York  City,  and  it  was  there  that 
Willard  Spenser,  the  composer  of  "  The 
Princess  Bonnie,"  first  heard  her  sing. 

Miss  Clark's  voice  is  what  is  technically 
known  as  a  soprano  legere,  and  while  she 
excels  in  floria  music,  her  voice  has  con- 
siderable of  that  rare  sympathetic  quality 
possessed  by  coloratura  singers.  Her  work 
in  the  theatre  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few 
words.  She  made  her  debut  in  the  title 
role  of  "  The  Princess  Bonnie "  in  Septem- 
ber, 1895.  After  that  she  accepted  the 
offer  of  The  Bostonians,  with  whom  she  ap- 
peared for  a  season.  In  "The  Serenade" 
she  alternated  in  the  role  of  Yvonne,  the  bal- 
let dancer,  with  Alice  Nielsen,  and  she  also 
sung   Maid    Marian   in  "  Robin    Hood "   and 


256       Prima  Donnas  and  Souhrettes 

Arline  in  "  The  Bohemian  Girl."  Next  she 
was  engaged  by  Klaw  and  Erlanger.  She 
created  the  part  of  Lady  Constance  in  "The 
Highwayman "  after  Camille  D'Arville,  who 
was  expected  to  take  the  character,  had 
quarrelled  with  the  stage  manager  over 
some  detail  in  the  action,  and  refused  to 
have  anything  more  to  do  with  the  opera. 
Miss  Clark  was  quite  successful  in  this 
character,  and  it  may  be  said  to  have  estab- 
lished her  firmly  in  the  ranks  of  the  Hght 
opera  prima  donnas.  Next  came  her  ap- 
pearance in  the  prima  donna  role  of  John 
Philip  Sousa's  opera  **  The  Bride  Elect,"  in 
which  she  is  best  known  by  the  general 
public. 

Sousa  is  the  most  eminent  composer  for 
the  bass  drum  and  the  cymbals  that  we 
have,  and  he  can  make  music  with  more 
accents  than  any  other  man  in  the  busi- 
ness. His  powerful  first  and  third  beats 
set   the    feet   to   tapping    and    the   head   to 


Hilda  Clark  257 

nodding,  and  the  American  public  thinks 
that  it  is  great  stuff.  So  it  is,  the  finest 
music  for  a  mihtary  parade  that  ever  came 
out  of  a  brass  band.  Sousa  writes  his 
music  with  a  metronome  at  his  elbow 
clacking  out  the  marching  cadence  of  I20 
to  the  minute.  Every  time  the  machine 
clacks  he  puts  in  a  bang  on  the  big  drum 
and  a  clash  with  the  cymbals.  Then  he 
weaves  a  stately  moving  melody  around 
the  bangs  and  the  clashes,  marks  the  whole 
business  *'  fortissimo,"  and  lets  it  go.  He 
does  not  bother  much  about  originality. 
His  strong  point  is  marches,  and  he  knows 
it.  In  "The  Bride  Elect,"  he  gave  us 
marches  —  shall  we  say  "  galore  "  ?  The 
score  was  undoubtedly  catchy,  and  the 
tunes  pleased  for  the  moment.  As  for  the 
book,  which  was  also  by  Sousa,  it  was 
nothing  to  boast  of.  It  served  admirably 
as  a  ringer-in   for  the  marches. 

17 


258        Prima  Donnas  and  Soubrettes 

Miss  Clark's  work  in  "The  Bride  Elect" 
was  thoroughly  satisfactory.  She  sang  the 
music  with  splendid  effect  and  with  much 
brilliancy.  Her  acting,  to  be  sure,  was  hardly 
aii  that  could  be  desired,  but,  fortunately  for 
her  success,  the  book  did  not  call  for  any 
great  dramatic  force.  Miss  Clark's  career  has 
been  somewhat  unusual  in  that  she  took  at 
once  a  position  of  importance  on  the  stage 
and  has  continued  in  positions  of  import- 
ance ever  since.  All  this  has  happened 
because  she  could  sing;  and  so  busy  has 
she  been  with  her  singing  that  she  really 
has  had  no  time  to  learn  to  act.  In  other 
words,  in  spite  of  her  five  years  behind  the 
footlights,  she  still  lacks  experience.  The 
woman  who  starts  in  a  humble  capacity 
in  the  chorus  and  who  climbs  slowly  to 
the  heights  of  calciumdom  may  have  at 
first  very  crude  notions  regarding  action, 
but    she    learns    as    time    goes    on    to    be 


Hilda  Clark  259 

non-committal  in  gesture  at  least.  She 
may  not  develop  into  a  histrionic  genius, 
but  she  does  acquire  facility  in  the  con- 
ventions of  light  opera  that  so  often  stand 
for  acting.  It  is  of  just  this  facility  that 
Hilda  Clark  is  most  in  need. 


Index 


"  Algerian," 

Tempest,     Marie,     222, 
232. 
"  All  the  Comforts  of  Home," 

Hall,  Josephine,  47. 
"  American  Beauty," 

May,  Edna,  152. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 
American   Opera  Company, 

98. 
"  Amorita," 

Hall,  Pauline,  247,  248. 
Anderson,  Mary,  245. 
"  Apollo," 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 
"  Aristocracy," 

Hall,  Josephine,  47. 
Aronson,  Rudolph,  247. 
"  Artist's  Model," 

Tempest,  Marie,  232. 
Ashley,  Minnie,  134. 
Atherton,  Alice,  40. 

"  Babette," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  217. 
Barnabee,  H.  C,  19. 
Barnet,    R.  A.,  82,  8^,  140, 

141. 
Barrymore,  Maurice,  190. 
Beaudet,  Louise,  251. 
"  Belle  Helene," 

Hall,  Pauline,  248. 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
112. 

Lessing.  Madge,  82. 

Russell,  Lillian,  42. 


«  Belle  of  New  York," 

Edwardes,    Paula,    1 13, 

118. 
May,    Edna,    148,    149, 

150,  151.  153- 
Bennett  &   Moulton   Opera 
Company,    189,    190,    192, 

193'  194,  199- 
Bernard,  Caroline  Richings, 

94. 

Bernhardt,  Sarah,  28. 

"  Billie  Taylor," 

Fox,  Delia,  199. 
"  Bill's  Boot," 

Raymond,  Maud,  137. 
"  Black  Sheep," 

Edwardes,  Paula,  117. 
"  Blue  Beard," 

Hall,  Pauline,  246. 
"  Boccaccio," 

Tempest,  Marie,  227. 
"  Bohemian  Girl," 

Clark,  Hilda,  256. 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218. 

Davis,  Jessie  Bartlett,  99. 

Fox,  Delia,  199. 

Nielsen,  Alice,  20. 
Bostonians, 

Clark,  Hilda,  255,  256. 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218, 
219. 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
88,  98,  99- 

Nielsen,  Alice,  19,  20. 
"  Bottom's  Dream," 

Hall,  Pauline,  247. 


262 


Index 


Braham,  Harry,  38. 
Brand,  John,  251. 
"  Bride  Elect," 

Celeste,  Marie,  169. 
Clark,   Hilda,  256,  257, 

258. 
MacDonald,       Christie, 
180. 
"Brigands," 

Russell,  Lillian,  31,  32, 
42. 
"  Broadway  to  Tokio,*' 

Templeton,  Fay,  76,  78. 
"  Brownies," 

Celeste,  Marie,  169. 
Burnett,  Mrs.  Frances  Hodg- 
son, 197. 
Burt,  Laura,  118. 

"  Carina," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  217. 
Carl  Rosa  Opera  Company, 

217,  218. 
Carleton    Opera    Company, 

98. 
"  Carmen, 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 

99. 
Tempest,  Marie,  229. 
Casino,  New   York,   25,   27, 
29,  40,   65,    66,   200,  201, 
206,  218,  229,  240,  247,  248. 
"  Casino  Girl," 

Earle,  Virginia,  29. 
Oilman,  Mabelle,  65. 
Castle  Square  Opera   Com- 
pany, 19,  169. 
"  Castles  in  the  Air," 

Fox,    Delia,    194,    195, 
200,  201. 
"Cavalleria  Rusticana," 
Celeste,  Marie,  169,  170. 


"  Celebrated  Case," 

Fox,  Delia,  196. 
Celeste,  Marie,  156. 
Cellier,  Alfred,  228. 
"  Chantaclara," 

Nielsen,  Alice,  14. 
"  Chieftain," 

Glaser,   Lulu,  128,   129, 

i30>  131- 
MacDonald,      Christie, 

180. 

"Chilperic," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  216. 
'*  Chimes  of  Normandy," 

Fox,  Delia,  199. 

Hall,  Pauline,  248. 
"  Chorus  Girl," 

Ashley,  Minnie,  141. 
"Chris   and  the  Wonderful 
Lamp," 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
112. 
"  Chums," 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
no. 
"  Cigale," 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 
"  Cinderella," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 
"  Circus  Girl," 

Ashley,     Minnie,      135, 
141. 

Earle,  Virginia,  28. 

Oilman,  Mabelle,  65. 
Clark,  Hilda,  221,  253. 
"  Club  Friend," 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
109. 
Collier,  Willie,  164. 
"  Combustion," 

Fox,  Delia,  197, 198, 199. 
Conried,  Heinrich,  199,  200. 


Index 


263 


"  Contented  Woman/' 

May,  Edna,  148. 
"  Corsair." 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 

Templeton,  Fay,  74. 
"  County  Fair," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 
Crox,  Elvia,  117. 
*'  Cvmbria,    or     the     Magic 
Thimble," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  215, 
216. 
"  Cyrano  de  Bergerac," 

Glaser,  Lulu,  124,  133. 

Hall,  Pauline,  240,  242. 

Dale,  Alan,  7,  8. 

Daly,   Augustin,    27,  29,  64, 

71,  118. 
"  Dangerous  Maid," 

Edwardes,  Paula,  118. 
Lessing,  Madge,  86. 
D'Arville,  Camille,  190,  208, 

256. 
"  Daughter  of  the   Revolu- 
tion," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  220, 
221. 
Davenport,  Eva,  251. 
Davis,  Jessie    Bartlett,    88, 

208. 
Davis,  William  J.,  95. 
Dazey,  C.  T.,  103. 
DeAngelis,     Jefferson,     42, 

206. 
DeKoven,     Reginald,     221, 

232. 
Desci,  Max,  9. 
"  Devil's  Deputy," 

Glaser,  Lulu,  128. 
MacDonald,      Christie, 
179,  180. 


Dickson   Sketch   Club,  196, 

197,  198,  199. 

Dickson,    W.    F.,    196,    197, 

198,  199. 
"  Dinorah," 

Davis,Jessie  Bartlett,  97. 
"  Don  Quixote," 

DavisjJessie  Bartlett,  99. 
"  Dorcas," 

Hall,  Pauline,  241,  248. 
"Doris," 

Tempest,  Marie,  228. 
"  Dorothy," 

Tempest,     Marie,     228, 
229,  232. 
Dressier,  Marie,  181. 
"  Dr.  Syntax," 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
III. 
"Drum  Major," 

Davis,Jessie  Bartlett,  98. 

Hall,  Pauline,  248. 
Duff,  J.  C.,  141,  217. 
Duff  Opera  Company,  41. 
Duse,  Eleanora,  187. 

Earle,  Virginia,  21. 
"  Editha's  Burglar," 

Fox,  Delia,  197, 198, 199. 
Edouin,  Willie,  40. 
Edwardes,  George,  232. 
Edwardes,  Paula,  47,  113. 
Edwards,  Julian,  172,  178. 
"  El  Capitan," 

Ashley,  Minnie,  140, 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
107,  III. 
Englander,  Ludwig,  220. 
"  Erminie," 

Glaser,  Lulu,  128,  133. 

Hall,  Pauline,  240,  242, 
248. 


264 


Index 


MacDonald,       Christie, 
179. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 

Tempest,  Marie,  227. 
"  Evangeline," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 

Hall,  Josephine,  47. 

Hall,  Pauline,  245. 

Templeton,  Fay,  74. 
"  Excelsior,  Jr.," 

Templeton,  Fay,  75. 

"  Falka," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  217. 
Farnie,  H.  B.,  216. 
Farrington,  Adele,  187. 
"  Fatinitza," 

DaviSjJessie  Bartlett,  99. 
"  Faust," 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
96,  97,  99. 
«  Fay  o'  Fire," 

Tempest,  Marie,  228. 
"  Fencing  Master," 

Tempest,     Marie,     230, 
231,  232. 
*'  Fiedermaus," 

Hall,  Pauline,  247. 
"  Fille  de  Madame  Angot," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218. 
First   Corps  of  Cadets,  82, 

117. 
Fiske,  Minnie  Maddern,  67, 

70,  71,  72. 
"  Fleur-de-lis," 

Fox,  Delia,  202. 
"  Fortune  Teller," 

Nielsen,  Alice,  5,  7,  20. 
Fougere,  76,  78,  79,  80. 
"  1492,"  82. 

Ashley,  Minnie,  140. 

Dressier,  Marie,  190. 


Fox,  Delia,  27,  42,  72,  104, 
no.  III,  168,  190,  192. 

"  Fra  Diavolo," 

Fox,  Delia,  193,  194, 199. 

Frazer,  Robert,  74. 

"  Frivoli," 

Tempest,  Marie,  228. 

Frohman,  Charles,   47,  109, 
III. 

Fursch-Nadi,  98. 

Furst,  William,  201,  202. 

Garcia,  Emanuel,  227. 
"  Geisha," 

Ashley,  Minnie,  135,  141. 

Earle,  Virginia,  23,  24, 
27. 

Gilman,  Mabelle,  65. 

Tempest,  Marie,  232. 
Gerard,  Bettina,  117. 
Gilbert,  W.  S.,  19,  26,  31. 
Gill,  William,  74. 
Gillette,  William,  199. 
Gilman.  Mabelle,  56,  ^^. 
"  Gipsy  Baron," 

Hall,  Pauline,  247,  248. 
"  Girl  from  Maxim's," 

Hall,  Josephine,  49,  50, 

51- 
"  Girl  from  Paris," 

Hall,  Josephine,  46,  48. 
"  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me," 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
no. 
"  Girofle-Girofla," 

Celeste,  Marie,  168. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32,  42. 

Templeton,  Fay,  74. 
Glaser,  Lulu,  120,  179. 
Goodwin,   J.    Cheever,    201, 

202,  204,  220. 
Goodwin,  N.  C,  164,  247. 


Index 


265 


"  Grand  Duchess," 

Celeste,  Marie,  168. 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32,  42. 
Grau,  Jules,  188,  189. 
"  Great  Metropolis," 

Celeste,  Marie,  163. 
"  Great  Ruby," 

Edwardes,  Paula,  118. 
"  Greek  Slave," 

Ashley,  Minnie,  135, 142, 
143,  144,  145,  146. 


Hale,   Philip,  202,  203,  204, 

205. 
"  Half-a-King," 

Glaser,  Lulu,  131. 
MacDonald,      Christie, 
180. 
Hall,  Artie,  236. 
Hall,  Josephine,  46,  ii6. 
Hall,  Pauline,  179,  208,  229, 

239- 
Hallen,  Fred,  26. 

Hammerstein,  Oscar,  148. 

Harlow,  Richard,  191. 

Harris,  Augustus,  228. 

Hart,  Joseph,  26. 

Haverly,  J.  H.,  85,  246. 

Henderson,  Arthur,  227. 

Henderson,  William  J.,  159. 

"  Hendrik  Hudson," 

Templeton,  Fay,  74,  75. 
Herbert,  Victor,  5,  6. 
Heme,  James  A.,  73. 
"  Highwayman," 

Clark,  Hilda,  256. 
"  Hole  in  the  Ground," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 
"  Honeymooners," 

Hall,  Pauline,  241,  248. 


Hopper,    DeWolf,   27,   104, 
no.  III,  140, 146,  170,  200, 
201. 
Hopper,  Edna  Wallace,  42, 

104,  140. 
"  Horrors," 

Hall,  Pauline,  245. 
"  Hoss  and  Hoss," 

Celeste,  Marie,  164,  165, 
166,  167. 
"  Hotel  Topsy  Turvy," 

Dressier,  Marie,  191. 
Howard,  Bronson,  47. 
Hoyt,   Charles   H.,  26,  148, 

164. 
Huntington,  Agnes,  99,  218. 

"  In  Gay  New  York," 

Earle,  Virginia,  27,  28. 

"In    Mexico"    {see    "War 
Time  Wedding"). 

Irwin,  May,  235. 

"  Ixion," 

Hall,  Pauline,  247. 

"  Jack," 

Hall,  Josephine,  47. 
"Jack   and  the   Beanstalk," 
Celeste,  Marie,  169. 
Lessing,  Madge,  81,  82, 
84,  85,  86,  87. 
"  Jane," 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
no. 
Jansen,  Marie,  120,  127,  128, 

248. 
Jones,  Walter,  146, 
Juch,  Emma,  98,  200. 


Kelley,  Edgar  Stillman,  249. 
"  King's  Fool," 

Fox,  Delia,  200. 


266 


Index 


Klaw  and  Erlanger,  82,  169, 

180,  256. 
"  Knickerbockers," 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
100. 
Koster  and  Bial's,  81. 
Kruger,  Jacques,  251. 

"  Lady  of  Lyons," 

Hall,  Pauline,  245. 
"Lady  Slavey," 

Dressier,     Marie,     183, 
184,  188,  191. 

Earle,  Virginia,  27. 

Lessing,  Madge,  Z^. 
L'AUemand,  Pauline,  98. 
LaShelle,    Kirk,    172,    173, 

174,  175- 
Lask,  George  E.,  19. 

"  Later  On," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 
Lederer,  George  W.,  25,  27, 
148,149,  150,  151,  152,  200. 
"  Lend  Me  Your  Wife,"     . 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
109. 
Lenox,  Fred,  142. 
Leonard,  Charles  E.,  33,  35. 
Leslie,  Elsie,  197. 
Leslie,  Fred,  216. 
Leslie,  Henry  J.,  228. 
Lessing,  Madge,  81,  118. 
"  Lion  Tamer," 

Glaser,  Lulu,  127,  128. 

MacDonald,       Christie, 
179. 
"  Little  Corporal," 

Glaser,    Lulu,    124,  131, 
132. 
"  Little  Duke," 

Celeste,  Marie,  108. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 


"  Little  Host," 

Fox,  Delia,  207. 
"  Little  Red  Riding  Hood," 

Lessing,  Madge,  86. 
"Little  Trooper," 

Celeste,  Marie,  168. 

Fox,  Delia,  168,  201,  202. 
Lloyd,  Violet,  27. 
Lucia,  Alice  Nielsen  as,  19. 

MacDonald,     Christie,    169, 

172. 
MacDonough,  Glen,  232. 
"  Madame  Favart," 
Hall,  Pauline,  248. 
Templeton,  Fay,  75. 
"  Madeleine,   or,  the   Magic 
Kiss," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  221. 
Dressier,  Marie,  190. 
"  Maid  of  Plymouth," 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
100. 
"  Mam'selle  'Awkins," 

Edwardes,    Paula,    113, 

116,  119. 
Hall,  Josephine,  47,  52, 

53. 
"  Man  in  the  Moon," 

Dressier,  Marie,  191. 

Templeton,  Fay,  76,  77. 

Mapleson,   Colonel,   95,  96, 

97- 
"Marjorie," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218. 
"  Martha," 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
99. 
Martinot,  Sadie,  216. 
"  Mascotte," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218. 

Templeton,  Fay,  74. 


Index 


267 


May,  Edna,  147. 
McCaull,  John  A.,  40. 
McLellan,  C.  M.  S.,  249. 
McLellan,  George  B.,  252. 
"  Meg  Merrilies," 

Earle,  Virginia,  27. 
"Men  and  Women," 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
no. 
"  Merchant  of  Venice," 

Oilman,  Mabelle,  65. 
"  Merry  Monarch," 

Glaser,  Lulu,  128. 

MacDonald,       Christie, 
179. 
"  Merry  War,'* 

Hall,  Pauline,  246. 
"Merry  World," 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
98. 

Earle,  Virginia,  27. 
"  Midsummer  Night's 

Dream," 

Templeton,  Fay,  71,  73. 
"  Mikado," 

Dressier,  Marie,  188. 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 

Nielsen,  Alice,  19. 
Miles,  R.  E,  J.,  243,  244. 
**  Mountebanks," 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 
"  Muldoon's  Picnic," 

Fox,  Delia,  195. 
"Mynheer  Jan," 

D'Arville,  Camilla,  217. 

«  Nadjy," 

Hall,  Pauline,  248. 

Russell,  Lillian,  41. 
"Nanon," 

Hall,  Pauline,  247. 
National  Opera  Company,98. 


Neutwig,  Benjamin,  10,  11. 
Nielsen,  Alice,  i,  219,  255. 
Nirdlinger,     Charles     Fred 

erick,   222,   223,  224,  225, 

226. 

Oates,  Alice,  243,  244. 
Offenbach,  Jacques,  31,  216. 
"  One   Round  of    Pleasure," 

Celeste,  Marie,  169. 
O'Neill,  James,  196. 
"  Orpheus  and  Eurydice," 

Hall,  Pauline,  246. 

Palmer,  A.  M.,  191. 
Palmer,  Frank,  166,  167. 
"  Panjandrum," 

Fox,  Delia,  194,  201. 

Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
106,  no.  III. 
"  Passing  Show," 

Earle,  Virginia,  27. 

Lessing,  Madge,  82. 
Pastor,  Tony,  2,3,  3^,  39.  ^Z^ 
"  Patience," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 

Hall,  Pauline,  246. 

Russell,  Lillian,  40. 
Patti,  Adelina,  96,  97. 
"  Paul  Jones," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218. 
"  Penelope," 

Nielsen,  Alice,  18. 
"  Perichole," 

Celeste,  Marie,  168. 

Nielsen,  Alice,  19. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32,  42. 
Perugini,  Giovanni,  45. 
Pike  Opera  Company,  18,  26. 
"  Pinafore," 

Davis, Jessie  Bartlett,  95. 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 


268 


Index 


Fox,  Delia,  195,  196. 

Russell,  Lillian,  y]. 
"  Pirates  of  Penzance," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 

Fox,  Delia,  199. 
Plympton,  Eben,  47. 
"  Polly," 

Russell,  Lillian,  41. 
"  Poor  Jonathan," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  218. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 
"  Poupee," 

Oilman,  Mabelle,  65. 
"Prince  Ananias," 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
100. 

Nielsen,  Alice,  20. 
**  Prince  Pro  Tern," 

Ashley,  Minnie,  137, 141, 
142. 
"  Princess  Bonnie," 

Clark,  Hilda,  255. 
"  Princess  Chic," 

MacDonald,       Christi.e, 
172,  176,  177,  178,  180. 
"  Princess  Nicotine," 

Celeste,  Marie,  16S. 

Dressier,  Marie,  191. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32,  45. 
"  Princess  of  Trebizonde," 

Russell,  Lillian,  41,  42. 
Puerner,  Charles,  190. 
"Puritania," 

Hall,  Pauline,  241,  248, 
249,  250,  251,  252. 

"  Queen's  Mate," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  217. 
Russell,  Lillian,  32. 

"  Rainmakers," 

Raymond,  Maud,  238. 


Raymond,  Maud,  233. 
"  Red  Hussar," 

Tempest,     Marie,     228, 
229. 
Reed,  Charles,  164. 
Reed,  Roland,  109. 
Rehan,  Ada,  28. 
"  Reign  of  Error," 

Raymond,  Maud,  238. 
"  Revels," 

Hall,  Pauline,  245. 
Rice,  Edward  E.,  26,  37,  47, 

140,  219,  245,  246. 
"  Rip  Van  Winkle," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  216, 
217. 
"  Robber  of  the  Rhine," 
Dressier,  Marie,  190. 
"  Robin  Hood," 

Clark,  Hilda,  255, 
D'Arville,  Camille,  218, 

219. 
Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 

91,  99,  100,  lOI. 
Nielsen,  Alice,  20. 
Rogers  Brothers,  233,  238. 
"  Rogers    Brothers   in   Wall 
Street," 

Raymond,    Maud,    235, 
236,  238. 
"  Romeo  and  Juliet," 

Hall,  Pauline,  245. 
Root,  Fred,  94. 
Root,  George  F.,  95. 
"  Rounders," 

Oilman,  Mabelle,  56,  61, 

62,  63,  65,  86. 
Lessing,  Madge,  86,  87. 
"  Runaway  Girl," 

Celeste,  Marie,  160, 161, 

169. 
Earle,Virginia,  23, 24,  28. 


Index 


69 


Edwardes,    Paula,    113, 

115,  116,  117,  119. 
Oilman,  Mabelle,  65. 
Russell,  Lillian,  30,  168,  191, 
206,  208,  217,  229. 

Sadler,  Josie,  142. 
"  Santa  Maria," 

May,  Edna,  148. 
Savage,  Henry  W.,  19,  169. 
Seabrooke,  Thomas  Q.,  117. 
"  Serenade," 

Clark,  Hilda,  255. 

Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 
100. 

Nielsen,  Alice,  20. 
"  Seven  Ravens," 

Hall,  Pauline,  246,  247. 
Sheldon,  William,  146. 
*'  Shenandoah," 

Hall,  Josephine,  47. 
"  Singing  Girl," 

Nielsen,  Alice,  4,  5, 
Smith,  Edgar,  97. 
Smith,    Harry  B.,    5,  7,  65, 

159,  221. 
Smythe,  W.  G.,  196. 
*'  Snake  Charmer," 

Russell,  Lillian,  40. 
Solomon,  Edward,  41. 
Solomon,  Frederic,  251. 
Solomon    Opera    Company, 

82. 
"  Sorcerer," 

Russell,  Lillian,  40. 
Sothern,  E.  H.,  197. 
Sousa,  John  Philip,  256,  257. 
Spenser,  Willard,  255. 
"  Sphinx," 

MacDonald,       Christie, 
180. 
Stange,  Stanislaus,  5,  6. 


St.  John,  Florence,  228. 
Stone,  Marie,  218. 
Sullivan,  Arthur,  19,  26. 
Sullivan,  Joe  J.,  237. 
"  Suzette," 

DaviSjJessie  Bartlett,  99. 
Sykes,  Jerome,  112. 

Teal,  Ben,  163. 
"  Tempest," 

Earle,  Virginia,  28. 

Oilman,  Mabelle,  65. 
Tempest,  Marie,  222. 
Templeton,  Fay,  67. 
Templeton,  John,  72. 
Thomas,  Augustus,  196,  197, 

198,  199. 
Thomas,  Theodore,  98. 
Thompson,  L.  S.,  141. 
Titus,  Fred,  147. 
Tivoli  Opera  Company,  19. 
"  Tobasco," 

Edwardes,  Paula,  117. 
"  Troubadour," 

Davis,Jessie  Bartlett,  99. 
"  Twenty   Minutes    in    Shirt 
Waists," 

Dressier,     Marie,      1S6, 
187,  188. 
"  Tyrolean," 

Tempest,     Marie,     229, 
230. 
"Tzigane," 

Celeste,  Marie,  168. 

Russell,  Lillian,  32. 

Urquhart,  Isabelle,  41. 

Vane,  Alice,  67. 
"  Venus," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  219, 
220. 


270 


Index 


"  Vie," 

D'Arville,  Camille,  216. 
"  Virginia," 

Russell,  Lillian,  41. 


"  Walking  Delegate," 

MacDonald,       Christie, 
180. 
"  Wang," 

Celeste,  Marie,  170. 
Earle,  Virginia,  27. 
Fox,  Delia,  194,  201. 
Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
III. 
"  War  Time  Wedding," 
Davis,    Jessie    Bartlett, 

100,  102,  103. 
Nielsen,  Alice,  20. 
Weathersby,  Eliza,  74. 


Weber  and  Fields,  42, 7  5, 197. 
"  Wedding  Day," 

Fox,  Delia,  206. 

Russell,  Lillian,  42. 
Weil,  Oscar,  103. 
Wheelan,  Alf.  C,  251. 
"  Whirl  of  the  Town," 

Lessing,  Madge,  82. 
White,  Edward,  252. 
Wilson,    Francis,    120,    121, 
125,  126,  127, 128,  129, 130, 
131.  132,  i79»  240,  242,  249. 
"  Wonder," 

Earle,  Virginia,  28. 
"  World's  Fair," 

Earle,  Virginia,  26. 

"  Yankee  Doodle  Dandy," 
Hopper,  Edna  Wallace, 
112. 


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